Spraying Graffiti

This Directive could well mark the beginning of the end of the NHS.

Labour backbenchers attack Health Directive:
“This Directive could well mark the beginning of the end of the NHS.”
Thirty two Labour backbenchers have today [...]

Abolishing the Regions

John Redwood has replied to some comments about abolishing the regions;

I want to see all unelected regional government abolished.
The Conservatives will not be abolishing the three elected regional governments in the UK that have been endorsed by referendum, nor the elected tier in Northern Ireland if that is in operation.
The fact that Brussels likes regional [...]

Conservatives Plans at odds with EU ideals

John Redwood has a post ridiculing a glossy brochure sent to him and doubtless many others, by Margaret Hodge, entitled “Creating prosperity in every region: England’s Regional development” Agencies”.

“She tells us the RDAs help to bring prosperity to all parts of England. Nowhere does she point out that the reigonal disparities have grown substantially during [...]

My 50 Reasons to loathe the EU

On this day when the Euro enthusiast are gathering to celebrate the 50th birthday of the European Project by patting themselves on the back for a job well done, whilst in the real world the real people of the European nation states have indicated in recent polls that they are not as enthused with the [...]

New Police Power Undermines Human Rights

Well it’s taken a couple of years but finally the British government have had to cave into the EU Commissions demand that the British people must be subjected to Random Breath Tests.
Even though giving our police this power undermines one of our basic rights; that strange concept of the Presumption of innocence.

Back in 2004 [...]

Socialist in a spin over democracy

There is this story in the Guardian also this from Euobserver
Socialist leader Martin Schultz is set to urge other political groups in the European Parliament to join forces and sideline the new far-right faction once it is formally confirmed next week, while calling for higher thresholds for deputies to form a new group.
The [...]

Discuss Charlie Bolton’s attitude

A new teaching pack on the EU has been introduced for use in Key Stage 3 and 4 “citizenship” classes that claims to offer a balanced view of the organisation and its role. Officials responsible for the pack say “The resources have been designed to offer a balanced introduction to the European Union and the [...]

Bonde’s briefing and new EU Constitution

Angela Merkel at Fogh.
The German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting an embattled Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday the 19th December 2006. Fogh has not been very informative about what was really going on in the democracy projects in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Merkel now wants Fogh’s “yes” to a new democracy project in [...]

An Historical Failure

The German government is starting as it means to go on.

EU Ministers set out yesterday a timetable for reviving the Constitution, with the hope of concluding negotiations on a new document by late 2008.
In a move to isolate countries which have not ratified, the18 countries that have already ratified will attend a meeting in Madrid [...]

Brussels Bureaucrats Eat Babies

Richard Corbett up to his usual histrionic verbalistic form in his post about the affect of the new EU driving licence, which must be renewed every 10 years. nb.I do not link to Corbett because he is far to grand to  allow comments,
He complains of the Express and Mail’s predilection for publishing at [...]

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 [...]

How to Duff up the EU Constitution

EU Communication Commissioner Margot Wallström supports Andrew Duff’s idea of a new Constitutional text which should be based on the current Constitution with added bits.
The proposal is based on the existing text and foresees keeping the Preamble, as well as Parts I and II. With respect to Part III he intends to add and [...]

The Saga of the Treason Act 1795

The Saga of “Treason Act 1795”. By Anne Palmer, 8.3.2005.
As many of your are aware, I trail certain debates in our Parliament and also, from time to time, the European Parliament, and so it was on 17th November 2004 in a reply to Lord Tebbit’s question, “Whether, and if so by what statutory provision, treason [...]

Government is failing to preserve rights of citizens

From Dennis Cooper
He may be VP of the EPP-ED, but at least this is one Tory who’s mentioned the EU Arrest Warrant.
The Scotsman
‘NatWest Three’ case shows government is failing to preserve rights of citizens
The extradition of the “NatWest Three” has rightly stirred the awareness of the public that the Labour government has no [...]

EU exit

Sir – While the group with which Conservative MEPs align themselves in the European Parliament is important, the more pressing issue surely has to be that roughly two thirds of all laws that take effect in this country come from Brussels, not Westminster.
It is very helpful that David Cameron allows backbench Conservative MPs to campaign [...]

EU Maritime Policy

Why did the British need the EU Constitution to explain where the Falkland Islands stood as regards THEIR overseas territories. Did ‘todays’ people not understand why we went to war, or so many of our young people lost their lives in so doing?

Perhaps this re-inforces my reasoning re the EU’s [...]

Vision for the Oceans and Seas

A European Vision for the Oceans and Seas: A ‘Roadmap’ for the Motorway in the Sea. Anne Palmer 16.6.2006.

I have always hoped that the people we elect into ‘power’ in this seafaring nation of ours, and yes, pay their wages, would take on the mantle of responsibility in looking after our own [...]

European Defence and EU Foreign Policy.

From Anne Palmer 20.4.2006.

Without doubt, one of the most important jobs of a Prime Minister and His/Her Government is to ensure that the Country is always ready, able and willing to defend itself. To ensure their military staff has adequate supplies and that the forces that have to use [...]

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. [...]

MEP`s fight for more power

Members of the European Parliament have stepped up pressure on the European Commission and the Council of Ministers to give them more say in rewriting implementing legislation.
The Parliament is withholding funding from the so-called comitology committees – the groups of national experts who are brought to Brussels to draft implementing rules, which are often [...]

Like a parody of BBC bias

A  report on the BBC’s the World Tonight attacked the Conservatives for planning to sit with Poland’s Law and Justice party in the European Parliament. The report explained: “Since David Cameron’s election as leader [...]

Death of the British Driving Licence

Member states to approve EU driving licence

EU ministers are set to hammer out a plan to replace the 110 existing types of driving licence with a single document recognised across the bloc, at a meeting on 27 March.
The move comes after member states’ officials agreed a compromise text following months of wrangling over details [...]

Resurrecting the Constitution

Resurrecting the Constitution
From Euobserver
German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Jacques Chirac are engaged in confidential talks aimed at re-submitting the core of the EU constitution to French and Dutch voters, according to a German weekly.
Spiegel Online reports in a preview of the Spiegel weekly printed edition that conservatives from Germany, France and the European [...]

The EUSSR

From The Brussels Journal, an interesting comparison between the structures and ideologies of the EU and the former Soviet Union.
Vladimir Bukovksy, the 63-year old former Soviet dissident, fears that the European Union is on its way to becoming another Soviet Union. In a speech he delivered in Brussels last week Mr Bukovsky called the [...]

ID Cards

From the letters page in the Times some voices of concern.
This ID card infringes fundamental freedoms
Sir, Most unusually, you have allowed yourself to be misled by the Government’s spin and misrepresentations concerning the ID Card Bill — principally by swallowing its contention that the privacy concerns of many people in the UK are “in [...]

And on the Third Day

EU constitution is dead, says Dutch minister,
Federalist hopes of reviving the draft European Union constitution were snuffed out yesterday when the Dutch foreign minister, Bernard Bot, said the treaty was “dead”.
He swept away months of euphemisms and half-truths, as European leaders struggled to avoid being the first to declare an end to the [...]

Immunity From What?

Immunity From What?
I read a News Release on 23rd September, “Government to end Crown Immunity from Planning Controls”. The list was quite long so I will mention only that “the Crown” includes Government Departments, Her Majesty’s private estates, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall and also part of the Palace of Westminster is [...]

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 EUSSR Rag

Trying to Make us all feel like nice little EUrooopeans
From Neil Herron
Christopher Booker’s Notebook
Sunday Telegraph
Sunday 02nd October 2005
The European Parliament is, as it likes to insist, “a rules-based organisation”, so its office in London was quick to comply last week when, following a complaint by the UK Independence Party, it was told to haul down [...]

EU Websites User Survey 2005

EU Websites User Survey 2005
EU Websites User Survey 2005
A few words about this survey
This survey is part of my PHD thesis regarding the EU’s public diplomacy strategy online and its use of the Internet to promote a European public sphere.
In particular, I am [...]

ECJ Give Commision power to jail polluters

Europe wins the power to jail British citizens The Times
Criminal sanctions to enforce EU law http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/14/weulaw14.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/14/ixnewstop.html”>The Telegraph
These are the headlines that announce the ECJ decision yesterday that the EU commision will have the power to enforce regulations in environmentallaw. The Times makes the point in its leader “Legal trespass
The European Court has gravely undermined the [...]

EU Access to Ports Directive

EU Access to Ports Directive. Anne Palmer 2.8.2005.
When I think there is nothing left for this Government to transfer to the European Union, up comes another EU Regulation or Directive on the further transfer of sovereignty in an area I hadn’t thought about.
First of all, there is no doubt what so ever that the [...]

It’s full steam ahead for EU constitution

Telegraph | News | It’s full steam ahead for EU constitution, even after ‘No’ votes: “It’s full steam ahead for EU constitution, even after ‘No’ votes
By Daniel Hannan
(Filed: 17/07/2005)
You may have got the impression that the European constitution was dead – that the French had felled it, and the Dutch had pounded a stake through [...]

No second referendum in Netherlands.

No second referendum in Netherlands. Frans Weisglas, the speaker of the Netherlands’ lower house has told the European Parliament that they will not hold a second referendum on the EU Constitution. “The Constitution will not be re-introduced” he said. This opinion was confirmed by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkanende.
Den Bosch
So dispite the [...]

Democracy bypass.

The most important post I have seen this week is Richard North`s deconstructing of the news that Clarke wants the EU to adopt the UK’s voluntary code for internet service providers most internet data to be held for six months and some phone data for 12 months. It is not the fact that our government [...]

The EU will not guarantee our safety

Do these people not realise what how it sounds to the British people to hear them going on about how important the EU is to our safety.
Welcoming the result of the European constitution referendum in Luxembourg yesterday, European Parliament president Josep Borrell of Spain jumped onto the bandwagon by saying “the people of Luxembourg had [...]

Jean-Claude Juncker stakes job on vote

Leader stakes job on vote to revive EU constitution
The Times By Anthony Browne, Europe Correspondent
IT IS either the most futile referendum in the history of the European Union or the most cynical.
France and the Netherlands have both rejected the European constitution, and countries from Britain to Poland have shelved theirs, but Luxembourg — with an [...]

EU to voters: Drop dead!

This posted in the American Thinker By James Lewis June 2nd, 2005
For half a century the ruling class of Europe has owned the project of European unification. Nobody bothered to ask the voters. But now they have made a mistake. Purely as a gesture, France, Holland and Britain scheduled popular referenda on the EU Constitution. [...]

Some Letters in the Telegraph

Always passionate?
Sir – When Tony Blair delivered his speech in the European Parliament, he demonstrated why so many British people no longer believe a word he says. He told the MEPs: “I am a passionate pro-European. I always have been” (News, June 24).
Always? When he sought my vote in the 1982 Beaconsfield by-election, he said: [...]

Overheard in Brussels

From Denis Cooper
“Presidencies may come and go but the European Commission is eternal” – President Barroso to Tony Blair,
after Blair’s speech to the parliament, 23 June 2005.
“National sovereignty is a luxury of the past” – Graham Watson MEP, leader of the liberal group in the
European parliament, speaking after Tony Blair’s speech, 23 June 2005.

The Budget is a Smokescreen

Perhaps Blogs are having an effect, EU Referendum has made the point several times that the Budget row is a get up to direct the pundits away fro the real issues. Today the Telegraph picks up on the story “So dazzled are commentators by President Chirac’s outrageous demands that they have taken their eyes [...]

MEP`s join budget debate

MEP`s join budget debate
José Manuel Barroso “The European Parliament has shown leadership and good sense by putting the policy needs of the EU first. We respect the work done by MEPs in this domain, and note with satisfaction that they are backing a budget on the same scale proposed by the commission. I hope member [...]

The EU a secular religion

Dr Richard North reminds us that the EU is not a political construct. It is closer to, if not in fact, a secular religion, the only thing separating it from one of the more established, fundamental religions is that God does not lie at the core of its belief system.
Instead, the core of this religion [...]

Citizens feel short-changed by democracy deficit

From Denis Cooper
A good letter until the end, when he fails to grasp that some French and German citizens “of the left” may long for a “social France”, and a “social Germany”, respectively, rather than a “social Europe”, and they may even long for the European Parliament, European Commission, etc etc to simply vanish.
Citizens feel [...]

Barroso motion torpedoed by MEP`s

As expected the MEPs have torpedo motion of censure against Barroso, European Parliament political leaders blasted the campaign to censure Jose Manuel Barroso over the Spiros Latsis cruise, calling the motion “indecent” and accusing its authors of political vandalism.
Barroso said the motion “crossed the line between democracy and demagoguery” and was aimed at undermining [...]

The Sally B

Ian Barber, Acting Head of the European Commission in the UK writes in the Telegraph about the grounding of Sally B. He says it is important to understand that the rules were introduced. After September 11, many airline companies found their cover to be inadequate and in several countries the state was obliged to [...]

I just feel good saying no for once.

Bernard Bot, the Dutch foreign minister, is surprised at the strength and amplitude of the opposition to the proposed EU constitution, when out canvassing he met a woman who said there was no point in trying to convince her, she was going to vote no. “I asked her ‘Why?’ and she said
‘I just feel good [...]

no campaign bulletin – 20 May

no campaign bulletin – 20 May
New cross-party no campaign launched
French and Dutch referendums on a knife-edge
UK government confused on referendum, but other countries won’t take no for an answer
1. New cross-party no campaign launched
The Centre for a Social Europe and the Vote No campaign have joined forces to launch a major new cross-party campaign to [...]

EUROPEAN UNION TAXPAYERS’ CHARTER

Eurealist :: Main Page: “EUROPEAN UNION TAXPAYERS’ CHARTER
by Eurealist on May 14, 2005 02:47PM (BST)
EUROPEAN UNION TAXPAYERS’ CHARTER
by Eurealist on May 14, 2005 02:47PM (BST)
EUROPEAN UNION TAXPAYERS’ CHARTER
From a rather disgruntled David Jacques Bremen, Germany. Who says of the EU;
If we can’t get out of it let’s at least do something constructive by applying [...]

One Stop Propaganda Shops

Eurealist :: Main Page: “One Stop Propaganda Shops
by Eurealist on May 5, 2005 11:24AM (BST)
From the Times today we learn that;
“THE Government has “forced” the European Commission to abandon plans to open European information centres across Britain because it believes that they could be construed as propaganda in the run-up to the referendum on the [...]

At what cost to the tax payer?

With today’s worldwide information technologies is this sort of thing really necessary?

A delegation from the European Parliament arrived in the Maldives last night to observe the rebuilding efforts after the Tsunami and the constitutional reform process currently underway.
The delegation was welcomed at the Male’ International Airport by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hussain Shihab [...]

Blair stays on as EU hostage

A good article in the Times by Michael Portillo
Comment: Michael Portillo: The escape door’s open, but Blair stays on as EU hostage – Sunday Times – Times Online
The integrationists want a constitution, president and foreign minister because those are the attributes of a nation state. The treaty does not bring about a United States of [...]

European Parliament set to ignore Westminster

MEP`s had allotted a total of £80,000 for the campaign in the UK to spread “information” about the EU Constitution
A spokesman for the European Parliament said the campaign was concerned with spreading information on the “main aspects of the constitution”. “We will explain to the public how the constitution will benefit them in their every [...]

Commission censured for funding EU critics

EUobserver.com:
“We need a set catalogue of criteria so that organisations that are clearly against the basic principles of the EU, do not get any more money’, says Ms Koch-Mehrin, for whom the bloc’s economic goals are an EU principle.” So says the deputy head of the Liberals in the European Parliament, Silvana Koch-Mehrin, has said [...]

Europe’s conscience police

Europe’s conscience police
By ROCCO BUTTIGLIONE
BusinessWorld Online:
“Rocco Buttiglione, formerly Italy’s European Affairs minister, is now Professor of Law at the University of Rome.
The story of the rejection last autumn of my appointment to be a member of the European Commission is notorious. Nominated to the Commission by the Italian Government, I was compelled to withdraw [...]

Whistling in the Wind?

Whistling in the Wind?
The Adam Smith Institute report on regulation is well worth reading, but as the report states..
“The apparent readiness among British politicians to tackle the problem of regulation is encouraging. But on past evidence one is bound to ask whether this will translate into positive action”
There seems to be no way that politicians [...]

The Saga of Treason Act 1795

The Saga of Treason Act 1795
By Anne Palmer, 8.3.2005.
As many of your are aware, I trail certain debates in our Parliament and also, from time to time, the European Parliament, and so it was on 17th November 2004 in a reply to Lord Tebbits question, Whether, and if so by what statutory provision, [...]

EU Prosecutor

A senior European Union official called on the Government yesterday to set aside its objections to the creation of a pan-European super prosecutor.
Franz-Hermann Brüner, director general of the European Anti-Fraud Office, cast doubt on the Government’s pledges that Britain could block the creation of the post.
He said preparatory work on establishing the office of European [...]

The EU Morality Police

The EU Morality Police
From the Pakistan Daily Times Rocco Buttiglione writes about the decision of European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs to reject him because of his religious belifes and the affects of this if carried through as a principal.
The story of the rejection last autumn of my appointment to be [...]

Mandelson Spinning Again

It has been announced today that Peter Mandelson has mounted an attack on John Humphrys, the Today programme journalist, complaining to the BBC of his “virulently anti-European” views and claiming that the “anti-European bias” of some BBC presenters is a “problem”.
In a stinging letter, obtained by The Times, to Michael Grade, the BBC Chairman, [...]

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