This guide has been prepared and put out by Deutsche Welle, the German state owned broadcaster. As Continental Governments have been less prone than their British equivalents to tell outright lies about the future course of the great European experiment, we thought it should be linked from here and a few quotes provided.
With the creation of a president, foreign minister and new powers to be centralized in Brussels, the EU Constitution proposes the greatest reform in the history of the European Union. Here's a DW-WORLD dummy's guide.
With the draft European Constitution, the European Union would, for the first time in its history, have a basic set of laws
It also bestows dual citizenship on all members -- both European citizenship and national citizenship. It incorporates the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union,
Competencies - The constitution lays out a number of exclusive competencies for the European Union -- including trade
it also establishes a method of dual leadership: In addition to the President of the European Commission, it also creates the position of a European Council President.
Until 2009, each country would be able to send a commissioner to Brussels, but after that, only 15 would have voting rights.
The constitution also creates an office of the European Union Foreign Minister.
The constitution also calls for the Union to take over competency in matters of common foreign and security policy -- including all areas of foreign policy and all questions relating to the Union’s security. The "progressive framing of a common defense policy" could lead to a "common defense," it stipulates....
One key provision of the constitution is that it eliminates current veto rights in broad policy areas and replaces them with qualified majority votes
The constitution further strengthens the European Parliament by providing it with a "co-decision with the Council of Ministers," or vote, on most future laws important to the EU.
For the first time, the constitution would also lay out the process by which a country could leave the European Union
the constitution also would create a European Public Prosecutor’s Office
The above are the highlights I personally have selected as the most obnoxious. There are of course many, many other totally unacceptable provisions in a document being applied to hundreds of millions of people in a totally non-democratic environment, where no provision will exist to remove those who rule by the ballot box, nor even hold them accountable for their decisions, actions or expenditure. Freedom will be extinguished across Europe if this Constitution is ratified.
Eurozone flash inflation estimate for September is 2.1 per cent, once again above the ECB target. Missed again!
Meantime the Commission reports the first signs of improving economic conditions for the ground down peoples of Euroland:-
There are now clear signs that the euro area is about to embark on the long-awaited recovery according to the latest euro area quarterly review. Both business and consumer confidence are improving and some hard data have also begun to point upwards. The world economy is gathering momentum. Corporate balance sheet constraints have eased. At the same time, financial conditions are supportive to growth. That is not to say that risks have evaporated, but they are more balanced than a few months ago.Link
Meantime in The Guardian, it is reported that UK growth was twice the rate first reported for the second quarter, but still only a rather lowly 0.6 per cent. The paper reports:-
"It's building a picture of faster recovery in the UK economy relative to the rest of Europe," David Brown at Bear Stearns told Reuters. "That is going to have an impact on perceptions of where the next move in UK interest rates is going."
.....................and Blair still likes to pretend he will hold a referendum on the Euro in this Parliament and trumpets the EU in his conference speech!
It's all pretend. It has to be when you seriously think about it for any length of time. The clues are too many, arriving ever more frequently and all becoming increasingly absurd. Take these fairly random examples:-
1) Amsterdam Crackdown on stoned police: Dutch police are to be banned from visiting the coffee shops where cannabis is legally available, in an attempt to clean up their image. The decision was triggered by a TV documentary exposing the high incidence of drug abuse among serving officers. Made by investigative journalist Peter de Vries, the documentary was based on a leaked internal police report which found that a quarter of the officers in Amsterdam's central police station regularly use hard drugs, and that some were so high on ectasy that they were unable even to find the city's main shopping street. "A police officer has an exemplary role to fulfil and has to show some authority," said Interior Minister Johan Remkes. "They could be in a difficult position if they have to stop and search people for drugs." The police union have accused him of overreacting. (Report from The Week 13 September)
2) A massive power cut in Italy, which left the entire country in darkness, might have been due to an electricity transmission line being disrupted in Switzerland. A lack of cooperation between Swiss and Italian operators and storms in France may have exacerbated the situation.
During the early hours of Sunday, most of Italy suffered from an electricity shortage that left it paralysed. At least 57 million Italians felt the effects of no power.
More than 100 trains came to a standstill on tracks, with more than 30,000 people on board, as authorities struggled to restore power.
The Swiss company, Aare-Tessin for Electricity (Atel), said powerful winds brought down a tree on a power line in Brunnen in canton Schwyz at around three o’clock in the morning.The fall knocked out the transmission line, which carries electricity over the Alps to Italy.
However, Atel said that such an occurrence was far from unusual and the company had rectified the situation as quickly as possible. From NZZonline
Where is the link? Holland and Italy? Little in common there. Little similarity also between the two different accounts above. Of the two countries, one typical of Northern Europe the other of the South. Both founder members of the original group of six countries that first formed the Common Market, but other than that fairly distinct. The latter item does, however, provide the clue! The EU is the link the conglomeration that once was six, but now encompassing 15 countries and soon to grow to 25. Iit is there we can find a connecting link.
Why? Well, may you ask. Regular readers will have guessed from the start. Those who have not will get there from this:-
3) The French daily, Libération, says that Romano Prodi does not care about Europe and has done nothing for it in the past four years, which makes him the worst ever president of the European Commission.
The paper also says that Mr Prodi is more interested in working out his comeback to Italian politics next year than he is in reviving Europe’s economy.
The European Commission has therefore lost its political authority in the EU and Mr Prodi himself barely speaks during European Councils.
His home country knows nothing about this, claims Libération, as the Commission President has hired a spin-doctor - paid for with EU money - to make him seem popular in printed Italian media. Source EUobserver:Prodi - the worst European Commission President
It is not just the Commission President of course, it is all the othe Commisioners as well. As an Englishman, it is my opinion that it would be a huge struggle to find two weaker candidates from either the left or right of politics to match the lamentable Vice President Kinnock and Commissioner Patten. Unsurprisingly one hears the same can be said of other countries Commissioners. Certainly their performance demonstrates no competence.
Right across the Continent there is of course nobody actually in charge. For fifty odd years European Politicians have been pretending to govern. The National Parliaments have been handing power to Brussels, while still holding their offices and salaries as if they remained in charge. The EU Commission has partly taken responsibility and formed Committees and Discussion fora to justify their fancy salaries, allowances and titles, but in reality concentrated on the more important matter at hand of getting seriously wealthy. The MEPs and paid bureaucrats have done a grand job of imitating the Commission. End result:- Fake Reality! Another example of the outcome: Sebrenica the consequence of pretend peacekeepers.
The EU is not just amusingly rotten, corrupt and out of control....it is dangerously so.
These were the Foreign Secretary's words in Parliament this week:-
"The proposals in the current draft treaty do not change the fundamental relationship between the EU and its member states." "On any analysis it involves less change than that in Maastricht and the Single European Act".
This statement is quite clearly completely and utterly untrue. This clear fact will be confirmed by every other European Foreign Minister during the course of the coming months and we will highlight their (or their Leader's) confirmatory statements as they are made and reported in the Press.
Those against who said:-
"This is a legal revolution without precedent" - The Spanish Foreign Minister (posted15/09/03)
"there will no longer be any sovereign states with their fully-fledged governments and parliaments representing people's interests, but a single state will be set up". - Czech President
The second quote is in a paper 29th September from Vaclav Klaus can be verified from the link
EUobserver 30/09/03
Jack Straw lied to Parliament, he knew he lied to Parliament. Parliamentarians know he lied to them! The words of the most senior Foreign Policy Statesman in Europe will be posted on this blog proving that Jack Straw lied to the British Parliament in Westminster. Jack Straw should now resign and Tony Blair must grant the British people a referendum to reject this sweeping and unprecedented leap towards totalitarianism.
As reported last evening it is all over Brussels that Britain is one of the countries seeking a quick wrap-up of the Constitution, this time from EU Business:-
But the EU's most influential members -- Britain, France and Germany -- clung fast to their view that the delicate compromises hammered out by the former French president should not be unpicked.
Britain's Europe Minister Denis MacShane said "we're 90-95 percent there".
"I don't think that voters want Europe to be engaged in months and months and months and possibility an even longer period of constitutional navel-gazing," he told reporters.
We have become used to British Ministers saying one thing on Europe while in Europe and another when at home, but this is ridiculous.
According to this report from German State Broadcaster Deutsche Welle Spain is heading towards the IGC with the right attitude summed up in its motto Nice or Death.
Tony Blair has sold out already according to the report which states:-
Accordingly, politicians from Europe’s biggest four nations – Germany, France, Britain and Italy – have said trying to drastically revamp the draft constitution could have the disastrous effect of derailing the whole project.
Another point conceded in Berlin that he hasn't bothered to mention back home we imagine. No messy complications of "Red Lines" there then!
Naturally enough it will mean more rather than less government. And lots more rather than much less EU which is clearly what is needed. Rather than that this is what we are going to get:-
The public sector has a prominent role in Europe's social and economic welfare. Public administrations need to meet the increasing expectations of citizens and companies for high quality and efficient services. Yet they also have to deal with challenging economic and social conditions, institutional change and the profound impact of new technologies. The most effective solutions to improving public services, democratic processes and public policies are those that combine information and communication technologies (ICT) with organisational change and new skills. This is what is called eGovernment.
EU Foreign Ministers will meet to discuss how to divvy up the 8.4 million euros they have allocated to political parties with effect from next year according to this report in the EuObserver.
Of course one thing the Foreign Ministers all have in common is that they all belong to governing political parties...guess where the lions share will go!
There should be no EU taxpayers money for political parties full stop. Correct that statement There should be no EU full stop it has clearly proved itself unable to function without pandemic corruption and should therefore be abolished, those countries stupid enough to want to try again should of course be free to do so. The problem for EU-enthusiasts is this follow up question if the EU were to be abolished or disappear overnight would anybody notice, let alone miss it?
I had been meaning to post for the past few days on the huge ironies surrounding the UN and Iraq; while at the General Assembly world leaders press for an early takeover of all activities as quickly as possible, on the ground all foreign national UN employees are getting out just as fast as they can. The chorus was of course led by Chirac and Schroeder, the double act who like to believe they now jointly rule the entire European Continent. Anybody else noticed the even bigger Irony? Of course it is that these two L & H substitutes want as speedy as possible a hand over of everything Iraqi to the members of the Iraqi Governing Council...weren't they claiming that body totally lacked legitimacy just a few weeks ago?
Anyway as I say I kept forgetting as I suppose its just becoming too easy to poke fun at those too poor Laurel and Hardy substitutes. It was an article by Mark Steyn in the Chicago Sun Times that reminded me, I quote the last few paragraphs:-
Which brings us, as most things do, to Iraq. In the last few weeks, almost all the big NGOs -- nongovernmental organizations -- have pulled out of the country, either partially or totally: Oxfam, the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders ... Is it dangerous? Maybe. When I was in Iraq earlier this year, I detected a good deal of resentment at the NGO big shots swanking around like colonial grandees in their gleaming Cherokees and Suburbans. But Iraq's a good deal less dangerous than, say, Liberia, where drugged-up gangs roam the streets killing at random, and the humanitarian lobby -- Big Consciences -- is happy to stay on.
What's different is the political agenda. The humanitarian touring circuit is now the oldest established permanent floating crap game. Regions such as West Africa, where there's no pretense anything will ever get better, or the Balkans, which are maintained by the U.N. as the global equivalent of a slum housing project, suit the aid agencies perfectly: There's never not a need for them. But in Iraq they've decided they're not interested in staying to see the electric grid back up to capacity and the water system improved if it's an American administration at the helm. The Big Consciences have made a political decision: that it's not in their interest for the Bush crowd to succeed, and that calculation outweighs any concern they might have for the Iraqi people.
Heigh-ho. For six months, their Chicken Little predictions of humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq have failed to emerge. If the country gets by perfectly fine without them, that may be a very useful lesson.
Meanwhile, who's staying on? The private sector: Bechtel and Halliburton and all the other supposed Bush cronies invited to help rebuild postwar Iraq. According to the conspirazoids, Dick Cheney planned 9/11 so that he'd have an excuse to topple Saddam Hussein and his old company Halliburton could make a killing. Fine. Let's take that as read. The fact is, right now, Oxfam and the other do-gooders have fled, and the only folks standing shoulder to shoulder with the Iraqi people are the wicked capitalists.
In response to criticisms, from the European President Romano Prodi, Marta Andreasen e-mailed back:-
"The reports on Eurostat reveal a lack of control on the funds and lack of audit trail, which is no different to the tone I encountered and reported. I presented concrete proposals for urgent action and requested your support. Instead, you removed me as Accounting Officer without mediation of my hearing or response to my note."
In a related article another whistle blower against the huge corruption within the sickly EU recounts his experiences at the hands of his co-beurocrats Cursed, spat at, ignored. The ordeal of an EU whistleblower after reading the article one can only have reconfirmed the view that the rot is now embedded so deeply within every layer of the EU organisation that reform is now impossible.
The Financial Times poll of nearly 2,000 adults, conducted by Mori between September 11 and 16, shows that Labour continues to enjoy a nine-point lead over the opposition Conservatives in a sample of people certain to vote at the next general election, suggesting that, despite Mr Blair's troubles, he would be re-elected tomorrow.
But when the same voters are asked how they would vote if Mr Brown, finance minister, were Labour leader, the party's lead rises from nine points to 15 points.
Meantime in another poll published in The Guardian a quarter of Labour MPs are found as wanting a new Party Leader and therefore Prime Minister Labour MPs put Blair on notice
This report from The Daily Telegraph indicates that the new EU entrant countries to the East of Europe are planning to get difficult over wanting amendments to the Constitution.
France and Germany now seem to be playing towards using this exercise to establish an inner core of countries that will purloin the assets of the present EU and restrict the apparent benefits to the inner group. Existing members should be moving to protect or liquidate their assets; investing in the new Parliament building in Strasbourg being pushed through at this time is particularly suspicious.
Say what?!
Wes Clark on tape: "I'm very glad we've got the great team in office, men like Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice... people I know very well - our president George W. Bush. We need them there.
Alongside existing members who have been growing poorer for years in comparison to competitive countries outside of the EU it has now been confirmed that the 10 new entrant countries will similarly find themselves poorer.
"In a protectionist fashion, which the EU touts as a desire to create a 'level playing field,' the EU forces poor member countries to adopt rules and regulations inappropriate to their level of economic development. Those burdens will result in suboptimal economic growth," argues Marian L. Tupy, assistant director of Cato's Project on Global Economic Liberty.."
Tony Blair is Prime Minister. He knew what was going on. He was there, at the meetings, taking an obsessive interest in Dr Kelly’s fate. At any stage he could have called a halt to the whole sordid operation. He chose not to do so. Hutton should have asked him why not. Blair was happy that others did the dirty work, just so long as he didn’t get the blame.
EU Economics Commissioner Solbes (who should have resigned yesterday over the Eurostat scandal) issued the following press statement regarding the French budget deficit for next year:-
Si aucune nouvelle mesure n'est annoncée par les Autorités françaises d'ici le 3 octobre prochain, date d'échéance fixée par le Conseil au mois de juin, la Commission lancera dans le courant du mois d'octobre la prochaine étape de la procédure de déficit excessif, telle que prévue dans le Traité."
My rough translation - If no new measures are announced by the French Authorities between now and 3rd October, the date fixed by the Council in June, the Commission wil launch during October the next step in the excessive deficit procedure as foreseen in the Treaty.
Hence the plot to rush through the EU Constitution and bring to a halt the other steps envisaged in Maastricht against countries that have breached the deficit limits for three successive years such as France which involve MASSIVE fines.
I could only find the link for this warning in French, no doubt an attempt by the EU to spare French sensibilities, which of course seems to be one of the priorities of the Commission, after feathering their own nests of course. The full link Commission Press Release
The following are the concluding paragraphs of Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's report on the Prodi fraud hearing in Brussels yesterday.
While many muttered privately that Mr Solbes "had to go", they feared it could set off a domino effect in Strasbourg's complex political horse-trading.
Spanish MEPs have threatened to bring down the whole house of cards if anybody moves against their man and socialists are planning tit-for-tat exposure of conservative commissioners.
The delay may gain time for the Prodi team, but it more or less ensures an autumn of water-torture as fresh disclosures dribble out during the coming weeks.
Shut the whole thing down is the only realistic solution After all it serves absolutely no useful purpose whatever.
"We left not a single stone unturned," he said, but added that "this work of reform is not finished yet". Mr Prodi underlined that "the Commission is not a little sailing boat that can tack on a pull of the tiller. It is a big ship that takes time and distance to come about".
So much for Prodi as for Santer before!
Beneath is the concluding sentence of the final paragraph of an article entitled Corruption and Fraud in the European Union written in May 1999 by the Labour-Euro Safeguards Campaign after the resignation of the entire previous former European Commission:-
Britain may not be perfect, but for hundreds of years we have never had anything equivalent in scale to the exhibition of corruption, fraud, nepotism and bad management which has recently been exposed in Brussels. How many people in Britain want to see themselves governed like that?
Labour has ruled in Britain throughout the intervening period and it is an ex-Leader of the Labour Party who has been the Vice-President in charge of bringing the corruption to a halt none other than Neil Kinnock, himself one of the Commissioners forced to resign with the rest of the Santer Commission, whose sole action in this area seems to have been the harassing and firing of whistle blower Marta Andreasen.
Entirely predictably the above was the reaction of European parliament head Pat Cox after the hearings on the fraud allegations that have been floating around Brussels for months, "It is premature to arrive at any conclusive judgement," he told a press conference.
Not to the EU citizens all across the Continent, we have already drawn our conclusions and anything Parliament or any of the other employees, officials or officers of this totally rotten and corrupt organisation have to offer will be like water from a duck's back. Scrap the whole thing is the only solution and the Euro and the Constitution look like projects that between them might bring this about!
Britain in Europe, the flagship for the Yes to the Euro campaign launched amid much fanfare by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, Michael Heseltine and Kenneth Clarke, former Tory ministers, and Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, has cut its ties with Downing Street and conceded that there will be no Euro referendum this parliament. According to an article in this morning's Daily Telegraph the organisation said it now planned to concentrate on winning the argument for the proposed EU constitution.
Perhaps that is an argument they feel they can win. No referendum having been promised and being able to rely on the huge parliamentary majority of the Blair administration and the total lack of gumption or conscience among his many backbenchers. That, however, is not my idea of what winning an argument involves!
I recently made a contribution to the Future of Europe discussion group, the first attempt for many months after they had refused publication of a piece I had submitted quoting Karl Popper's views on Democracy and Tyranny. I was amused to read their new introduction reproduced below:-
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This discussion corner is democratic.
We do not censure the content or form of contributions IN ANY WAY.
We merely ask users of the forum to abide by the following basic rules of politeness and respect for others:
Contributions must be genuinely related to the debate on the future of Europe, as defined by the Declaration of Laeken.
If this is not the case, we suggest the sites and/or discussion corners devoted to the subjects dealt with in the message.
The content of contributions must not be illegal, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, libellous, vulgar, obscene, threatening for the private lives of other people, hateful, racist or objectionable in any other way.
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More generally, contributions must abide by the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Contributions must not pursue a commercial goal.
On the basis of these considerations, the moderator reserves the right not to publish certain contributions.
This very simple line of conduct is necessary to ensure a democratic debate, and we are convinced that everyone will support it.
I hope that these explanations will have convinced you to take an active part in this debate.
Complete freedom to express your views and Democratic, got that! As determined by the "Moderator"
This report comes from the Daily TelegraphEuropean Court overrules Home Office on Immigration and states:-
Britain's control over its immigration policy was called into question last night after the European Court overruled a Home Office refusal to allow a Moroccan to live in the UK.
One more of our pretences that we are still a sovereign nation blown away
The Polish parliament has rejected calls for the Poles to be given a referendum on the new EU constitution in spite of opinion Poles! showing 81 per cent in favour. Of course unlike we British the Poles have recently had a referendum that gave them a chance to pronounce on the EU following the Single European Act, Maastricht, Amsterdam and of course Nice. Pretty cold comfort is it not for we downtrodden Brits? Read the Euractiv report here!
The headline of the article linked to Le Figaro translates as follows:-
Blair takes a step towards European Defence
As posted below the Germans stated agreement was given towards non-Nato European Defence now backed up by this French report. Three men attended the meeting two out of the three have one version of the truth, time for Blair to own up. How long can a Prime-Minister continue in office while continuing to be caught in lies!
'The occupant of 10 Downing Street has made a major concession on the future of European Defence, ' the article states continuing that he had totally rejected the same formula when it was first proposed at the Nice Summit in December 2000.
The Italian EU Presidency has spelt out the timetable for the Inter-Governmental Conference under which the nation states of Europe will agree to cede the last remaining mayor portions of their sovereignty and deliver their citizens to the whims of the non-democratic socialist super-state the Coninents present leaders are determined to impose.
Certain nations who at least have the honesty to present the true facts to their electorates will also cede the final decision to the people in the form of a referendum. In Britain, however, our Foreign Secretary, now to be responsible for the negotiations, has already stood in Parliament and totally misrepresented the nature of the changes being proposed, while our Prime Minister, apparently already having given up on one of his red-lines over defence at the weekend, continues to stubbornly refuse to even consider the possibility of a referendum being necessary.
Some smaller countries feel they are being "bullied" into accepting a constitution which would tilt the balance of power towards the so-called Big Five: Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain.
This Leader from today's Telegraph is aptly titled Acts of Cruelty Read it and shudder! Note that the judge did not order on the spot that the cruel and inhumane treatment be immediately halted but instead adjourned the hearing until mid-October, futher barbarism!
"At a mini-summit with President Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Gerhard Schroder over the weekend, the Prime Minister agreed to a joint paper sketching out proposals for an autonomous military force.
The document, obtained by the German magazine Der Spiegel, states: "We are together convinced that the EU must be able to plan and conduct operations without the backing of Nato assets and Nato capability."
The new operational headquarters would have a staff of 40 or 50 officers.
Our suspicions were raised that some such deal had been struck when the St Malo meeting was mentioned at the press conference following the so-called summit meeting. It will be recalled that it was at a meeting in that Northern French islet that Blair first sold out Britain's armed forces to the French.
The 'Ironies' prediction was posted on 17th September and was as follows:-
In truth, to get an agreement for George W on Iraq Blair is poised to sell out his country on the EU constitution and Defence. What worthless scrap of paper will Blair wave at the cameras when he lands back in England from Berlin, whatever it is I'll vouch the claims prove as useless as Chamberlain's 'Peace in our Time'.
Any not wishing to depress themselves about the outlook for the world economy are best to skip these two links Flying on one engine from The Economist and this from Bill Jamieson in Scotland on SundayWake-up call on budget deficits
Germany’s ruling party suffered its worst election defeat in Bavaria since World War II on Sunday. The conservative Christian Social Union breezed through with a two-thirds majority in Germany’s second biggest state.
As the British public get no say in the Coninental Leaders who these days presume to govern us in so many aspects of our national life, it is extremely satisfying to see one of them having their nose put slightly out of joint.
Bearing in mind the source of this story we are not prepared to give it too much credence but nevertheless provide a link to the Sunday Mirror article.
Clinton Stalking Horse and British Educational Stupidity
Mark Steyn puts into words the gut reactions of many of us when considering the strange bid for the Democratic Nomination by ex Nato Commander Generak Clark from Arkansas in this Sunday Telegraph Opinion article titled Here comes General Clark, his policies will follow shortly
Meantime in a Leading Article N is for Nuts the same paper points out that the Government is banishing failure from our primary schools and replacing it with'N' for nearly and even the words right and wrong are out, their replacement being 'creditworthy' and 'not creditworthy' after Brent East at least the Government have been put on warning as to which category they now fall.
Carrying such lunacy to its logical conclusion at the upper end of the educational system we can find in The Observer this piece University Grades deal to help the poor which opens:-
Children from rundown schools will be offered university places on lower grades than their more privileged peers under plans to help disadvantaged pupils get into higher education
The above item on a BBC programme has been mentioned elsewhere extensively within the blogospere. I was particularly struck however by the passage quoted below rather than the elements concentrating on the Tony Martin case:-
Over by the Countryside Alliance stall, I fell into conversation with an old woman. She was 87, and had lost her husband and both brothers in the War. One of her sons was settled in America with his family. But another had a farm in Oxfordshire. He had been threatened repeatedly by intruders. He had lost crops and machinery to them. The Police had told him they were unable to help, but had warned him not to "take the law into his own hands". She was safe in her own home. She had good neighbours who kept an eye on her. But she looked about her with quiet despair. "I have been coming to this fair and to others like it all my life" she said. "I used to think it would go on forever - always changing with the times, but continuing generation after generation. It will see me out, I suppose. But I don't believe it will go on much after that. You should think yourself lucky you have seen it while you can. There will be nothing for your children. They will have neither country nor freedom. Sometimes nowadays, I almost regret I survived the bombing."
The full article which is first rate can be read from the link below Free Life Commentary
According to this item from EuObserver the typical Italian family is one thousand three hundred euros a year worse off since the introduction. A consumer boycott of shops took place last week to protest this fact. Angry Italians in "Cappuccino boycott" over euro price rises
Tom Utley in The Daily Telegraph highlights the fact that with 16 candidates to choose from in the Brent by-election 64 per cent chose not to vote. Here is the reflection of the public's awareness that their democracy has been stolen! It is indeed now irrelevant who sits in Westminster supposedly representing the people of Brent East.
The low turnout in Brent East, as in so many other elections these days, represents a shameful failure of the political establishment.
People don't think voting matters, and it is the politicians' job to persuade them that it does.
Part of the problem must surely be that so many important decisions are now taken outside Parliament - in Brussels, Strasbourg or the Hague, or in the office of the Prime Minister's press secretary at Number 10.
The voters of Brent East did their crosswords and scratched their armpits instead of voting, because they felt that the result of the byelection would not make any difference.
Elections must be made to matter again. What I am really saying, I suppose, is Vote Tory.
Two FT items of huge significance to Britain and its involvement in the EU, the first the stench in the wind, of corruption:-
Court forces out top EU official
By Tobias Buck and John Prideaux in Brussels
Published: September 18 2003 21:45 | Last Updated: September 18 2003 21:45
The European Union body representing local and regional authorities was pulled deeper into crisis yesterday, after a court ruling forced out its most senior civil servant, finding his appointment had suffered from severe irregularities.
The decision by the European Court of Justice regarding Vincenzo Falcone, the Committee of the Regions' Italian secretary-general, comes as the body awaits the outcome of an investigation by Olaf, the EU's anti-fraud office, into alleged fraud and financial mismanagement.
And the second, a straw in the wind on taxation:-
Tax ruling a 'heavy blow' for member states
By Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam and Nikki Tait in London
Published: September 19 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: September 19 2003 5:00
A landmark decision by the European Court of Justice to outlaw a cornerstone of Dutch tax law could pose wide-ranging problems for the tax systems of other European Union member states, legal experts warned yesterday.
The Dutch government will today consider new legislative measures to limit a potential ¬ 1.6bn ($1.8bn, £1.1bn) revenue shortfall, following the ruling by the court, which found that its domestic tax law on "exempt participations" was discriminatory and therefore unlawful.
But the ruling, the latest in a string of ECJ judgments invalidating local tax provisions in member countries on discrimination grounds, will also reverberate elsewhere in the EU where further challenges are pending.
According to the IMF as reported in The Independent Tony Blair would do better to stay home this weekend and worry about the economy in what is supposed to be 'his country' IMF sounds alert over housing crash
The IMF said soaring housing markets posed a threat in the UK, US, Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands, warning that "the risk of an abrupt unwinding cannot yet be ruled out".
According to the FT Schröder and Chirac offer growth plan for Europe this latest wheeze is to get the EU to fund huge public spending projects, funded by their partners presumably, while contuing to ignore and breach the clear limits of the Growth and Stability pact. Blair is expected to sign up to this fiasco at the weekend!!!!!
France and Germany are expected to breach the 3 per cent deficit limit set by the eurozone's stability and growth pact - the fiscal rules underpinning the euro - for the third year running in 2004 and could face substantial fines.
The Franco-German "growth initiative" calls for investment in 10 projects grouped under four headings: research and development, information technology and telecommunica- tions, sustainable development, and transport infrastructure. The two leaders said it was too early to put a financial figure on the project.
While pressure is mounting on Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes to step down over this affair - Mr Solbes is responsible for the EU statistical office, Eurostat - investigations have also been opened into the European Publications Office in Luxembourg, which falls under the responsibility of the Culture Commissioner, Viviane Reding.
In his statement Mr Prodi called for the abolition of national vetoes in areas including moves to combat tax fraud, a proposal Britain opposes. And he announced plans to streamline the European Commission in a way that one commissioner said would make it more like a government.
Once Again an Ineffectual British PM scurries off to Germany
According to this report Blair Seeks Breakthrough at Euro Summit in a magazine I have not previously come across called Insight in the news, Tony Blair is heading for 'a highly symbolic summit this weekend' with Stability Pact busters France and Germany (the duopololistic de facto new rulers of Europe).
But MSNBC in a report by Paul Taylor of Reuters takes an altogether more realistic and sobre assessment of the realities in Big Three summit may revive EU leadership he states:-
But mistrust runs so deep between French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, on one side, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on the other, that they are unlikely to overcome all their differences on Iraq.
Experts expect them to focus mainly on seeking common ground on a planned EU constitution ahead of tough negotiations due to start next month, on European defence cooperation and on improving their strained personal relations.
''It's not really about Iraq. The differences are too great. But Blair realises he's got a problem of being separated from France and Germany, so he's keen to revive the trilateral relationship,'' said Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform.
What trilateral relationship? I've never heard of nor seen any existence of such a thing!
In truth, to get an agreement for George W on Iraq Blair is poised to sell out his country on the EU constitution and Defence. What worthless scrap of paper will Blair wave at the cameras when he lands back in England from Berlin, whatever it is I'll vouch the claims prove as useless as Chamberlain's 'Peace in our Time'.
The Foreign Office has put out this quote:-
'BRITAIN AND THE EURO'
The Minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, said in an interview that it would send a devastatingly negative message to investors in Asia and America if Britain said never to the euro. Speaking on Radio 4's Today Programme the Minister said the Government's policy was that entry to the euro would depend solely on the economic conditions being right. And quoting the figure that 60% of British trade is conducted with Europe, he added that it was crucial for Britain to make the right economic decisions and remain fully engaged in Europe. 'If Britain turns its back permanently on the euro I think investment will dry up so we?ve got to keep making the case for Britain being fully in Europe and for all of us to understand, the euro's here to stay.' he said.
the euro's here to stay I've got a fiver that say's, outside the original six Common Market Countries, it isn't!
Will they ever listen? Sweden's decisive rejection of the euro - and by clear implication the tide of European political integration - was swatted aside, as usual, by Romano Prodi.
You cannot be in and out of Europe, the Commission President told the Swedes. Same goes for Britain. Outside the euro, you will lose influence. We will freeze you out. The European Union is now a take-it-or-leave it political entity. There is no scope any more for national choice based on democracy. The people are, quite simply, an aberration and a nuisance.
This is the politics of the playground bully.
The Times September 16, 2003
Economic View
Swedish vote changes everything
By Anatole Kaletsky
The nature of the Swedish campaign and the size of the majority against the
euro show that the campaigners for closer integration now face daunting if
not impossible odds. The huge anti-euro majority (56 to 42 per cent)
represented a swing of more than 20 percentage points against the euro
during the course of a six-month campaign. Yet this was a campaign in which
the 'yes' side outspent the 'no' by a ratio of five to one and in which all
possible arguments were presented with utmost clarity to an electorate that
is well-educated, open-minded and renowned for respecting authority. After
this campaign nobody could possibly argue that opposition anti-euro feeling
was motivated by ignorance or xenophobia.
.............................................
Swedish voters soon recognised that monetary union was part of the
politically driven integration process ‹ that the referendum was really
about democratic accountability and national autonomy, not just the abstruse
economic arguments about optimal currency zones. Here we come to the nub of
the issue ‹ and the real reason why this vote will reverberate beyond Sweden
and Britain to the whole of Europe.
.........................................................................
Nobody can now deny that a tide of popular sentiment is flowing across
Europe against the transfer of power to Brussels from the elected
governments of nation states. And nobody can claim any longer that further
integration is inevitable ‹ for example, that Britain and Sweden will
'inevitably' join the euro, whether they want to or not.
The question is what will happen when the irresistible force of public
opinion in the nation states hits the immoveable object of the EU
constitution ‹ in particular, the European acquis, a legal concept invented
by the EU bureaucracy with the specific purpose of ensuring that every new
power 'acquired by the centre becomes the permanent and immoveable property
of Brussels.
It is impossible to predict the outcome of this clash between the people of
Europe and its institutions but some broad observations can be made. The
Swedish vote will hugely intensify the already powerful pressures for a new
approach to European integration. The idea that all the nations of Europe
must move in lock-step towards the promised land of ³an ever-closer union²
is no longer democratically acceptable or politically feasible.
For one thing, it now seems likely that the new EU constitution will never
come into force. The constitution will have to be ratified by 24 countries,
many of which will be legally required to hold referendums.
Since most of these referendums will turn into protest votes against
centralisation and the accretion of unaccountable bureaucratic power ‹ and
since the fear of voting 'no' will be hugely diminished by what has happened
in Sweden (the chances of the new constitution being ratified in the
foreseeable future seem pretty remote).
...............................
This brings me to a final observation, which may sound paradoxical but
really is not. The Swedes voted against the euro mainly because they wanted
to defend their welfare state and their high taxes. Many eurosceptics in
Britain oppose the euro for exactly the opposite reasons ‹ because they want
to keep the economy market-driven and taxes relatively low.
Does this mean there is something confused or even dishonest about the
euro's Swedish opponents? Not at all. Preserving the national currency
allows each nation to choose its own economic and social policies and to
control its own destiny. That is what opposition to the euro is all about.
Financial Times George Parker in Brussels and Christopher Brown-Humes in Stockholm
Published: September 15 2003 20:46
Joschka Fischer, German foreign minister, said European countries should
continue to pursue deeper integration in areas such as the economy and
defence.
His vision, shared by countries including France, Belgium and Luxembourg,
would see a core of EU countries forging closer defence links and increasing
economic co-ordination.
Countries such as Britain, Denmark and Sweden, outside the euro and
sceptical of defence initiatives, could become part of an outer circle,
along with many new EU members from the former communist bloc.
Mr Fischer, who said he was "not happy" with the Swedish result, urged a
deeper European union at both political and economic levels. Europe must
also become a world force in security, he said. "The EU wasn't designed for
war and peace. . . but we have common interests and we [must come together]
again on the security issue."
The draft of the new EU constitutional treaty, due to be finalised in
December, would open the way for countries to work more closely on defence
and allow the 12 eurozone members to increase economic co-operation.
An interesting insight into the German view of the situation from this latter piece (and let's not overlook that it seems to be increasingly the case that the Germans see the future of the EU as being a matter which they decide, aided by French input, while the rest follow at a reasonably brisk pace) which seems to see this solution:-
Inner Core (A new Nation State) : The original six nations of the Coal and Steel Agreement
Eurozone : An economic socialist power block under the defence umbrella of the inner core and economically subjugated into lock-step decline.
Non-Euro Group : The three present non-Euro countries plus those of the new entrants who choose not to enter into the Euro. These will be treated as an irrelevance by the two controlling French and German politicians who will effectively be running this new Europe.
Thank goodness for these now almost regular columns from Janet Daley on the Hutton grind, it saves us having to follow it in detail, and being Janet even having to think about it too deeply!
What sort of Europe do we want? is the headline over a debate carried in this morning's Daily Telegraph which can be read via the link.
A strong point made by DT editor Charles Moore The general attitude of pro-European British politicians is to deny that sovereignty and authority is removed whereas pro-European politicians on the Continent will tend to admit that it is removed and say that is a good thing.
I do think that the politics of any country suffer tremendously when people can't be honest about what is going on.
A good point made by Timothy Garton Ash of the 'Guardian' All the evidence until Maastricht. But not since Maastricht. And the fact is that more than ten years later we live in a very different Europe where even in the core countries of Europe a great many people are not signing up to that - not just the Swedes but a lot of the French and a lot of the Germans - and you have this dramatic enlargement of the European Union, bringing in post-Communist countries most of which are more Atlanticist, more free trading and who are not just about to give up their sovereignty having just regained it
Those opposed to granting increased power to he ever more abhorrent Euopean Union must now beware of the siren voices that counsel complacency based on another country rejecting the new Constitution in a referendum. We have been there before. Take this extract from an article in this morning's The Independent:-
The referendum rebuff served as a graphic reminder of how difficult it is to win a pro-European vote, and a warning of the problems that the EU faces over its new constitution.
After Sunday, Sweden will have to take a more Eurosceptic line in negotiations on the text proposed by the former French president Valèry Giscard d'Estaing.
When the final document is agreed, several countries, including Denmark and Ireland, will have to hold referendums. The possibility that at least one member state votes against, preventing it coming into force, must now be rated as high.
On this morning's Radio 4 Today programme I heard the following incredible quotation from the man of the title who I believe is responsible for Britain's Railways:-
The only safe train is one standing at the station!
I wonder what the great railway pioneers of the Victorian era would have made of that quotation. Quite, quite unbelievable!
Sheer arrogance on display again this time from Pascal Lamy the egregious trade commissioner of the EU, this quote coming from a New Zealand source reporting on the failed World Trade talks:
Lamy suggested that the size and disparity of the WTO, where the smallest member can block any action, had confirmed his view that it was a "medieval organisation" and needed streamlined decision-making...........run by the unelected EU Commission no doubt
What shame that the British nation should be represented by such a man from such a corrupt undemocratic body as the EU Commission on matters of such crucial importance to the future of the world. This is yet one more consequence that passes unremarked and unnoticed as a result of the actions of recently past British governments having sold out their country.
The largest deficits in 2002 were recorded in Germany (-3.5% of GDP), France (-3.1%), Portugal (-2.7%) and Italy (-2.3%), while the largest surpluses were observed in Finland (+4.2%), Luxembourg (+2.5%), Denmark (+2.1%) and Sweden (+1.3%). Belgium and Spain recorded small surpluses.
Interesting how it is the biggest economies in deficit and the smaller ones with surpluses, this makes the overall situation for the poor suffering Eurozone countries:-
the government balance moved from a deficit of 1.6% of GDP in 2001 to a deficit of 2.2% of GDP in 2002,
while for the EU fifteen combined nations a deficit of 0.9% in 2001 to a deficit of 1.9% in 2002.
Its amazing how including the three non-Euro nations improves the overall balance is it not?
Could the blindingly obvious difference in economic performance between non-Euro and Eurozone countries not have more to do with the massive and OH SO SATISFYING Swedish NO rather than Swedish housewives' love of welfare which the BBC again put as the alleged cause at midday today, immediately after a housewifely appearing Swedish lady clearly told their reporter her main reason for VOTING NO had been Not wanting to be governed from the middle of Europe
Great shots of a visibly upset and rapidly ageing Romano Prodi however, maybe the BBC TV news coverage is best watched with sound off.
These were the Foreign Secretary's words in Parliament this week:-
"The proposals in the current draft treaty do not change the fundamental relationship between the EU and its member states."
"On any analysis it involves less change than that in Maastricht and the Single European Act".
This statement is quite clearly completely and utterly untrue. This clear fact will be confirmed by every other European Foreign Minister during the course of the coming months and we will highlight their (or their Leader's) confirmatory statements as they are made and reported in the Press.
We now have the first such Foreign Minister's statement confirming that Britain's Foreign Secretary clearly and in full knowledge of what he was doing LIED to Parliament when he made the above statement. Our first confirmed accuser - The Spanish Foreign Minister who said:-
"This is a legal revolution without precedent"
We thank Christopher Cooke Independent Councillor for Tamworth, whose letter published in Teletext this morning A revolutionary tidy-up brought this so appropriate quotation to our attention. Many more will follow!
The Guardian chooses this headline for one of its major items on the Swedish Referendum Lindh factor not enough to change minds it continues:-
'Pro-euro hopes that sympathy would influence Swedish vote proves in vain as search goes on for killer '
I feared that the dreadful murder of Anna Lindh might rob the NO side of their clear lead and even possibly their predicted victory, therefore it is reasonable, I suppose, for the YES camp to entertain hopes for the same effect, but I would not have publicised them!
Both camps had called on voters to turn out in large numbers to show that democracy cannot be thrown off course by violence. But the "no" supporters seemed to benefit more as the expected "Lindh effect" failed to materialise. One theory is that the trauma of the murder encouraged voters to opt for the status quo. Another is that the "no" camp benefited from the high turnout with more of its supporters voting than had been expected. More than one million Swedes are thought to have cast their votes by postal ballot before Ms Lindh's death.
The above is the title of this morning's Leading Article in the Daily Telegraph which begins with this magical sounding opening paragraph:-
Deep down, even the most fanatical supporters of the euro must now recognise that it isn't going to happen. Their two main contentions - that the euro is inevitable, and that Britain is too small to go it alone - have been blown away by Sweden's "nej".
Later it makes this telling point which goes to the heart of the EU mindset epitomised in the statment by Solbes, to be found immediately below:-
our foreign policy is built on a falsehood. Central to Britain's diplomacy is the notion that, by "leading in Europe", we can make the EU more receptive to our needs, and so amplify our power in the world. Yet, whatever the pretensions of our successive leaders, it is clear that the British people have no desire to "lead in Europe" if that means surrendering their currency and diminishing their independence. The way in which British Europhiles disregard this reality is, in its way, awesome. What part of "no" don't they understand?
Solbes: All EU countries expected to join the euro
Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes says that he respects the No of the Swedish people in the referendum on the euro, but that it cannot remain outside the euro zone forever.
Who is he to say that Sweden cannot so decide. And why has he not yet resigned or been fired over the Eurostat Scandal?
Sunday 14th September 2003 could mark an historic turning point in the subjugation of the peoples and nations of Europe by the totalitarian forces that increasingly drive the EU.
The Swedish people did not just vote NO, they did so by a large and emphatic margin. Various corporatist commentators such as those at the daily less independent BBC tried to imply that it was women wedded to welfare who had made the victory possible. ROT! That line must have been prepared in anticipation of the NO vote winning by a few percentage points. The margin of victory was such that there is only one message EU supporters can take from the vote and that is that the people of Europe are sick of the fatted and corrupt insitutions of the EU that are sucking dry the economic lifeblood and destroying the democratic rights and freedoms of the people right across the continent of Europe. All employed within the EU have been placed on notice!
It was not all good news. The Swedish Minister for the Euro (who one would have thought would have been redundant this morning) announced that it was bad for Sweden but they would try again in about five years.....once more proving such people will never learn! AND in poor little Estonia a majority felt compelled to throw away their so recently gained freedom from one monstrous and bullying neighbour state to fall under the sway of another. Small nations have thus ever felt compelled to submit to the whims of their more powerful neighbours. It is a matter of great shame that Britain who should be leading the fight for freedom and democracy has now joined the bullies.
On balance a brief moment for celebration: the small flame of freedom has shown it still flickers in the far north of the Continent. Let's hope that a spark still remains somewhere within the British Isles to relight our own. Now that the Euro has been so rebuffed we can begin to speculate on which will be the first ex-Nation State within Euroland to regain its monetary freedom....Ireland perhaps?
Let's hope in their rush to be first they have got it wrong.
In case you get a Subscription Request this is how the article opens:
Sweden Votes to Adopt Euro
By Peter Starck
Reuters
Sunday, September 14, 2003; 11:44 AM
STOCKHOLM, Sept 14 -- Swedes voted on Sunday on scrapping the crown to become the 13th member of the euro after opinion polls showed sympathy votes for slain pro-euro Foreign Minister Anna Lindh eroding the "No" side's long-standing lead.
A damning indictment of how the EU continues to exert control over its ex-officials and probably employees in this item from this morning's column by Christopher Booker in the Sunday TelegraphLords hide EU interests
The article contains this quote from the EU Commission Staff Rules:-
- which apply to himself and a dozen other peers, including Lord Wiliamson, a former head of the Commission's civil service - make clear that any former official must "conduct himself solely with the interests of the Communities in mind"; that this particularly applies to "any expression of opinion"; and that any former official who breaches this obligation may face "reduction or withdrawal of entitlement to retirement pension".
Those following the link to read the full article are urged to read on to the next item on another victory over bureaucracy for Neil Herron now directing his attention towards the Referendum 04 Campaign.
At the end of their meeting in Italy the starpped finance ministers of Euroland called for help:
Several ministers issued calls for a "yes" verdict in Sweden, which would be a huge shot in the arm for the euro area as it battles an economic slowdown and discord over its Stability and Growth Pact.
That was according to a report in EU Business which also conatined this gem:-
Swedish Finance Minister Bosse Ringholm, speaking in Stresa, said France had not helped his government's pro-euro case by flouting the stability pact's stricture on budget deficits.
"The improvement in the French attitude is a little late for our referendum," he said after French Finance Minister Francis Mer assured his colleagues of his support for the pact.
Small gratification for we English speakers that it is not just us the government of France enjoys irritating.
Quote
But, for the second time in as many weeks, I find myself wondering where European statism is heading. In France, where the death toll in the brutal Gallic summer is now up to 15,000, the attitude of Junior to the funny smell coming from grandma's apartment was the proverbial Gallic shrug and a demand that the government do something about it. On Thursday, Swedes, though more upset, took much the same line:
"This can happen to anyone, anywhere," said Annika, described as "a 24-year-old bystander", at the scene of the attack. "She should have had bodyguards."
There seem to have been an awful lot of bystanders to Miss Lindh's stabbing - in broad daylight, in a crowded department store, after being pursued by her assailant up an escalator. Unquote
These were the Foreign Secretary's words in Parliament this week:-
"The proposals in the current draft treaty do not change the fundamental relationship between the EU and its member states."
"On any analysis it involves less change than that in Maastricht and the Single European Act".
This statement is quite clearly completely and utterly untrue. This clear fact will be confirmed by every other European Foreign Minister during the course of the coming months and we will highlight their (or their Leader's) confirmatory statements as they are made and reported in the Press.
Assume, however, just for the moment that Jack Straw's statement was the exact truth. Would that then justify this Government's refusal to give the people a say on what all others agree is a Constitution rather than just another Treaty.
Absolutely and definitely NOT!
The Single European Act and Maastricht reinforce and prove the desperate need for the people to be consulted and give their assent to the final act of European Coalescence.
Thatcher entered the Single European Act believing it would open Europe to free markets and Thatcherism; she was duped and knows it. Being charitable it could be said that Major signed up at Maastricht perhaps partly because he believed his opt-outs would protect Britain's remaining sovereignty.
These huge historical blunders (on the top of Heath's treachery) have been compounded by Blair scrapping the opt-out on the social chapter in accordance with his pre-election pacts and then signing on to more of the same, with identical lying and cynical misrepresentation to the British public in both the Amsterdam and Nice Treaties.
The long history of Treaty distortions now becomes the main and most compelling reason why the British people will have a referendum on the EU CONSTITUTION or they will not have that Constitution, and very likely no more of the EU to boot!.
Jack Straw knows the British Public have been conned over Europe since the very beginning. Every new Treaty makes the deceit greater, the treachery deeper and the government's justification and chance of success ever weaker. The lying should never have started.....the fact that it has been allowed to continue down the years and with Treaty after Treaty makes it absolutely IMPERATIVE that no EU Constitution now be entered into without the full, specific and wholehearted consent of the British people.
Jack Straw would be well advised to remember that it is the last one that breaks the camel's back!
As raised here last week it appears that the indecent haste to push through early ratification of the EU Constitution may well be connected to the three major deinquent countries under the Growth and Stability pact being under huge financial pressure to get the terms of the Maastricht Treaty buried for ever. This report from Euractiv 'Stability and Growth Pact: Netherlands to take Commission to Court ?' goes some ways to bearing out this view:-
Dutch government officials think the Court of Justice can force the Commission to implement the rules in the Maastricht Treaty for countries that are not in line with the Stability Pact rules.
Not if the Constitution has replaced Maastricht it wont! Watch for the weasel words that emerge in the final version that results from the upcoming IGC or Council of Ministers meeting that will relax the G & S limits or give France and Germany some other get out from the fines that should soon be levied!
Referendum04 is run by Neil Herron, Colin Moran and a dedicated team that has already severely discomforted Britain's political elite.
Vote 04 is running a similar referendum campaign apparently run by that elite.
Referendum 04 is driven by Neil Herron fresh from his subjugation of Trading Standards Officers across the country and the financers and officers of the appointed North East Regional Assembly. Vote 04 was 'Chaired' by Lady Catherine Meyer who is married to Sir Christopher Meyer, former British Ambassador to the US, now joined as co-Chair by Frank Field a no doubt stalwart campaigner but does he have the stomach for a full-bloodied fight after his mauling at the hands of Chancellor Brown.
Visit the websites and compare. Vote 04 is slickly presented and well linked and oozes the sickly stench of spin as if straight from the strategems of Campbell or Mandelson. Referendum 04 is plain and workmanlike with a simple Petition Form ready to download and a clear straightforward strategy for its delivery and presentation.
Referendum 04 asks for no fancy funding with secure zones for credit card donations but a simple request for monthly two pound donations from millionaire and pauper alike.
There is no reason why as many referendum petitions as possible should not be prepared and delivered. XX million signatures delivered in one package will inevitably have more clout than six separate petitions totalling XX million. The impression might be given that the same signatories appear on them all thus diluting the impact.
Those signing a petition will be unaware of this dilemma. Activists preparing to devote time, money and effort passing out the petition forms and gathering the signatures should consider very carefully to which organisation they wish to offer their efforts.
The euro-realist cause are already seeing the damage that can be done to their campaign by a hijacking of one of their organisations. One need only look at the UK Independence Party today to see how easily a movement can be taken over by the forces it was established to fight. (Visit UKIP Uncovered for the latest developments).
We suggest that anyone planning to get active in the campaign for a referendum on the EU Constitution next year has a very close look at the Vote 04 package and ask themselves: Is this an establishment plot to stifle the voice of the people??
We urge you to support Referendum 04 in every way you are able and then by all means give Vote 04 and any other petition for a referendum your signature too.
Another article that highlights how concerned the EU's non-democratic and autocratic elite are becoming at the prospect of a Swedidh NO is this one relating to Tony Blair in The ScotsmanSwedish vote on euro puts pressure on Tony Blair from which comes this:-
TONY Blair insists his troubles over Iraq have not derailed his desire to take Britain into Europe’s single currency as soon as possible.
But as the government wrestles with the repercussions of the war, few politicians or pollsters expect him to be in any position to persuade a sceptical public which overwhelmingly wants to keep the pound.
Another nail in the coffin could be driven home this weekend if - or rather, as is expected, when - Sweden returns a "No" vote.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Daily Telegraph has seemingly jumped to a very fast conclusion as to who might have been behind this tragic event. In an article on the Stabbing he theorises that it was a fanatical foe of the euro, or a nutcase, or most likely a mixture of the two
A cold analysis of the likely beneficiaries of the murder, particulary against the background of the NO campaign's forecast of last weekend that dirty tricks lay ahead as the Yes campaign became increasingly desperate and their task appeared ever more hopeless, could possibly lead to an equally likely (and probably just as inaccurate) opposite conclusion.
Such speculation either way seems extremely premature, however, particulary as the killer has yet to be found another factor that might have led to more careful diagnosis by the usually reliable Telegraph journalist. Would either a fanatic or nutcase been so adept at making a clean getaway?
An item from German State Broadcaster Deutsche Welle highlights the forced direction of Britain's future foreign policy under the Qualified Majority Voting that Blair and Straw are careering towards as a result of their totally weakened negotiating position in the IGC following their refusal to agree to even the possibility of a British referendum:-
A poll by the transatlantic organization the German Marshall Fund released September 4 revealed that one in every two Germans thought U.S. world leadership was "undesirable." Such sentiments were even stronger in Italy and France, which announced Wednesday it had drafted a new security council resolution for postwar Iraq together with Germany.
We have posted lengthy excerpts from yesterday's Daily Mail on our sister blog Teetering Tories parts of which have also been placed on another web site pushing hard for a referendum Vote 2004 from which the following is a brief quote:-
Tony Blair faced damaging new questions about trust yesterday after it emerged that his private view of the new EU Constitution is totally at odds with his public statements.
In a devastating slip the Leader of the Commons Peter Hain revealed that the Prime Minister beleives the new Constitution is 'absolutely fundamental...more important than Iraq' and its impact will 'last for generations'.
Yet in public Mr Blair and his Ministers have consistently played down the importance of the Constitution, dismissing it as a 'tidying up exercise' as they fought off demands for a referendum on the issue.
The unexpected decision by the Dutch to also hold a referendum on the EU Constitution places yet more pressure on our now proven lying and untrustworthy Prime Minister and his similarly deceitful Foreign Secretary.
The following link takes one to a summary of a statement from the EU Commission following the above tragic event. and a decision to proceed with the Euro Referendum: EU Commission urges Swedes to vote to honour dead FM
In it are the following quotes the first from EU Commission President Prodi followed by that from the Swedish EU Commissioner Margot Wallstrom:-
"You can't stop democracy. If it was decided not to hold the refendum, it would mean that the killer would be stronger than the collective will," Prodi told reporters, after paying tribute to Lindh.
Meanwhile environment commissioner Margot Wallstrom, a compatriot of Lindh, called on Swedes to vote in the Sunday referendum as a mark of respect for the slain minister.
"I .. want to encourage everybody to participate in this referenedum Sunday," she said. "This is the best way to honour Anna Lindh."
We have been carrying a link titled UK Referendum on our side bar for quite a while, but for most of this time, unhappily, it has not been functioning as the site was still under development. It is now up and running and appears with the correct title Referendum04. We believe that this organisation's careful and well-considered plans, will ensure the maximum possible impact, its organisers being responsible for two of the oh so few recent successes against the ever encroaching EU: namely the Metric Martyrs campaign and the present harassment of the unelected North East Regional Assembly and its financing, through NEARA (North of England against Regional Assemblies).
A petition form can be downloaded from the site Referendum04 Petition Form in pdf format and requires ten signatures. Those wishing to take an even greater part are invited to join the campaign by signing a standard two pound a month Direct Debit from their bank.
Further details can be obtained from this telephone number 0871 700 2004
The committee is calling on Parliament's plenary to give the green light for the IGC to start in very early October and it supports the Italian Presidency's intention of winding up the proceedings by December this year. MEPs would like the new treaty to be signed by the 25 Member States on 9 May 2004, which is also "Europe Day". If their constitutions allow, all Member States should then hold a referendum, if possible on the same day as the European elections.
The committee welcomes the progress achieved with the drafting of the Constitution for Europe, "even if not all demands in respect of democracy, transparency and efficiency in the European Union were met". The committee therefore speaks of the "important steps towards a more democratic, efficient and transparent European Union" but also of the "aspects requiring further monitoring" and the "shortcomings" of the draft Constitution.
All Member States are thus urged to hold a referendum, preferably on the same day, the Parliament clearly recognising and stating clearly in the immediately following paragraph the basic flaws of the convention document and to my mind almost hinting at the necessity of a NO vote in such referenda!
Only The Sun treats yesterday's White Paper on the complete surrender of the Government over the European Constitution with the outrage and disgust that it so richly deserves. The Times reported the matter with a time line showing the extinction of our nation state in a mere matter of months as something not at all out of the ordinary and even The Daily Telegragh reported the matter as merely one more routine betrayal on a par with many such earlier, but far less significant, defeats we have recently suffered over the EU.
We link to the Sun's coverage which has Blair in undertaker's garb alongside a headline Last Rites. Inside the newspaper there is further excellent coverage including full page picture of a gravestone with GB and R.I.P.. How true, how incredibly sad and to what depth of treachery is the government now stooping?
A key figure in the upcoming struggle over Europe's future will be the present President Silvio Berlusconi, as Schroeder has realised. Blair should be heading for Italy with all haste. This interview with Boris Johnson in the Daily Telegraph thus becomes an almost must read for this weekend Berlusconi Interview
In the Franco-German press conference yesterday, one report includes the word Core being used by one of the two leaders. This is hugely significant. Germany having brought Italy on board with the plan to prevent changes to the Constitution of VGdE and France now similaly roped in; the three smaller original founding Benelux states having refused to attend the Prague meeting of smaller states pushing for major changes, for what appeared the flimsiest of reasons also seem to be included. The battle lines seem drawn for a huge upheaval in, if not re-alignment of, Europe.
The original six or Core appear to be planning a total acceptance of the constitution and a raising of two figures to the rest of the enlarging EU. Why? I believe one answer is the Growth and Stability pact restrictions, which cannot really be amended because they are rooted in Maastricht. The convention by revoking all the old Treaties thus provides France, Germany and Italy the chance to break free from the rigid restraints that now seem to rob those countries' leaders of any hope of political survival. The long term economic interests of their nations seem, under this scenario, to be allowed go hang!
Britain's leader obsessed by Hutton and Iraq, while the Spanish PM arranging his succession and new Government do not seem to be preparing for these seismic events that are shaping up for October. Wht Not!
The first live press conference I watched this afternoon courtesy of CNBC was from the ECB where interest rates were left unchnaged but a stern warning was delivered to unnamed, but all knew who was meant, countries about the dangers of breaching the restraints of Euroland's Growth and Stability pact.
An hour or so later, thanks to CNN (BBC World TV of course covered neither of these 'real news' events, nor indeed Blair's own press conference of this morning!) we were able to see the ever more pompous appearing Jaques Chirac perform alongside his 'laugh in' (Rowan and Martin for those too old to remember) colleague Gerhard Schroeder.
Maybe these two gentlemen would come over as a tad more human if they managed to obtain some official English translators with a hint of personality in their voices. They announced that they had no bilateral matters to discuss as they were now effectively 'one' and that they would stick together on Iraq. Schroeder again stressed that the constitutional document prepared by VGdE was not amendable and the Italian Presidency would be a success. I gather achieving the former will be enough to ensure the latter. This repetitive demand that the constitution cannot be changed should be addressed by Blair! or somebody in the British Government (ignoring it will not do).
The original deal for the six hundred million file required that the French accept a guilty plea to at least one criminal charge. I cannot find reference to this.
Francois Pimault remains to be dealt with, though from this account it appears the next head of the ECB Mr Trichet is in the clear.
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