News & Diary
LATEST EU TRADE FIGURES
Thanks to the roaring economic competence of our EU masters the EU trade deficit with China increases by an estimated £9.7 Millions per hour. (Leaked EU papers seen by the Financial Times 15th November 2007)
KEEP QUIET! DON'T TELL THE VOTERS!
".. we have to make sure that there are no discussions taking place in the open air". So says Guenter Burghardt, former EU ambassador to the USA, warning that details of the new EU diplomatic service shold not be discussed in public before the UK parliament had ratified the reform treaty and Ireland has held its treaty referendum early next summer. (EUObserver. 27 Nov 2007)
GODFREY BLOOM SPONSORS "STREETWISE"
Godfrey has sponsored a pilot course on personal safety for schoolchildren, called "Streetwise". It is conducted by York based company, Securicare [01 904 492442], Godfrey believes that personal safety is no longer just about telling children never to accept sweets from strangers. Children from good homes in their mid teens want to go into town on their own. They are not worldly wise to the dangers of everyday street crime. The course is designed to put an old head on young shoulders. Securicare found that the project was well received and had many plaudits from children and parents alike.
Following the positive feedback, Godfrey intends to promote this programme to schools across Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. "Streetwise" could make a great difference to parents' peace of mind, so he would like as many children as possible to benefit from the experience.
EU MEMBERSHIP MAY COST UK £94 BILLIONS A YEAR
EU Commissioner Gunter Verheugen claimed in an interview with the Financial Times that EU regulation costs the EU 600 billion euros a year to administer. The follow-on dynamic costs are not included. This sum equals around 5.7% of the EU 25 country Gross Domestic Product. If Commissioner Verheugen's estimate is right, then, in the case of the UK, adding on the cost of the net UK contribution to Brussels, plus the cost of the Common Agricultural Policy, the annual net cost of EU membership would be a minimum of 7.7%of the UK GDP, or around 94 Billion euros at 2005 prices. Well there you have it - he said it, not a "Eurosceptic". [Report in Open Europe]
WHY ROYAL MAIL GIVES YOU THE PiP
Simple:- EU Directive 97/67 Article 12.
Why didn't the Government controlled Royal Mail say so? Because it is bound by the Foreign Office instruction not to reveal the source of unpalatable EU Directives to the public.
LABOUR EURO-SAFEGUARDS CAMPAIGN
Its fatal lack of democracy is the EU's Achilles heel. Its founders designed it to be run by civil servants rather than elected politicians, and that is how it has stayed. Only civil servants in the Commission can prepare legislation, not the EU Parliament - they can only discuss it anyway, as when it is returned to the Commissioners it is they who will decide to accept or reject the Parliament's ideas. Unfortunately, says the Labour think-tank, the EU like every other organisation is not immune to the influence that power without accountability always has on inducing and encouraging policies which suit the advancement of those in power. Self-seeking behaviour at best and corruption and fraud at worst steadily become endemic.
Policies go ahead not because they are what most people in the EU want, but because those who run the EU are in a position to pursue them, to their own advantage, irrespective of democratic opinion, which they believe they can safely ignore.
CAR PRICE CHECK
Over the next five years car manufacturers will face no less than 282 separate pieces of EU legislation that will add between £2,700 and £4,100 to the price of a car, according to Cars 21, a group of manufacturers and government officials which meets to moderate the impact of legislation and red tape on car production.
The EU produces every third car in the world, and its car industry sustains two million jobs. But productivity is lower than its rivals in Asia and America. Labour costs here are amongst the highest, and traditional plants, such as Rover MG are already being abandoned in favour of cheaper plants in the east. Yet the EU is set to add further to the cost of European made vehicles in its legislation frenzy, which this country will be unable to avoid, because this is yet another of our laws that arrives as a Directive from Brussels. We cannot defend ourselves from the EU onslaught on car production. Expect more massive job losses and abandoned factories in the industry
OFFSHORE BANK ACCOUNTS
Just a thought. Why does the EU need 45 offshore bank accounts? The fact that the French island of St Pierre, off Newfoundland, is represented in the European Union cannot account for all of them! Maybe this is one of the things which gives the auditors their problems, and stops them signing off the EU accounts year after year. What a set-up!
WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?
Well, Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP, pointed out recently the scandalous waste on a committee of the EU that discusses the size and shape of whisky bottles. The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee [this is the committee referred to] meets once a week. There are 78 MEPs on this committee. Each can claim a £189.96 attendance allowance. In addition they can claim 70p per mile travel expenses (a final total of £1,133.56 in the case of Mr Bloom). Why do we need this committee at all? A bottle of whisky is a bottle of whisky whatever the size and shape of the bottle. [To save you getting out your calculator, if Yorkshire were average distance in the EU from Brussels each weekly meeting would cost over £88,000]
EU COSTS MORE THAN THE NHS
The London-based think-tank Civitas has produced an independent cost-benefit analysis of the UK's membership of the EU. At present the overall cost to the UK is about £100 Billions per year. That is one and a quarter times the cost of the NHS. You can download the full details free from http://www.civitas.org.uk/
Just as a matter of interest according to United Kingdom Balance of Payments, the Pink Book 2004 ISSN 0950 7558 our trade deficit with our EU "Partners" ["Partner" is EU-Speak for "Competitor"] was £22.7 Billion (in the red). Our trade with the rest of the world outside the EU was in surplus to the tune of £2.2 Billions (in the black).
LABOUR LETS UK PROSPERITY PLUMMET
THE Prosperity Ranking of the UK amongst the EU-15 Member States slipped again, to 8th in 2003, from 6th in 2002 and 4th in 1997. ome of our own money back to help with recent floods? Don't wait up.