That has to hurt

The latest furore swirling around Roger Helmer has thrown up an interesting aspect.

He is being knifed by his East Midlands Conservative MEP colleague Emma McClarkin.

Which must hurt, as Ms McClarkin's entire political career is predicated on her being his erstwhile assistant and her excellent relations with her predecessor in the East Midlands Tory MEP berth Chris Heaton-Harris.

Both of those gentlemen did all they could to help get the nomination for the second slot on the Tory East Midland's list.

"I want to make it absolutely clear that I wish to distance myself from Mr Helmer's comments. This is clearly not the view of the Conservative Party or the UK delegation in the European Parliament, nor do they reflect the intent of Ken Clarke's comments".

Roger had been his normal forthright self, maybe ill-advised,

Another asked whether he believes that an offender may act against their victim's will simply because the victim decides to share a bed with them.

Mr Helmer replied: "It is naive for a woman to undress and get into a man's bed and not expect him to draw the obvious conclusion."

Hard to argue the rationality of his point, but impossible to defend.

The World is indeed flat

Well it seems to be if this is to be taken seriously. It is one of those EU Humpty Dumpty moments, words meaning what they want them to mean.

So the sight of Mr Tajani saying,

"we have already made savings"

When discussing Galileo is laughable in the extreme.
The 'grand project' that is the EU's satellite dream was originally slated to cost €2.6 billion back in 2000 is now costing at the best figure from the Commission €3.4 billion. Which is a massive saving in anybody's book, surely.

How they have lost their demand for the extra 22 billion I have no idea. And to suggest that it will somehow create 60 billion is pure hogwash.

Galileo is expected to deliver 60 billion euros to the European economy over 20 years, the European Commission has said, as well as removing the cost of relying on other systems.

Given that GPS is free to use.

The financial crisis is nothing to do with the EU

Give the EU more power. Now,  really now.



This is a propganda video release by the European Parliament today.

Note, not by a political party or group, but by the Parliament itself. By a bunch of civil servants.

That is your taxes are being spent by civil serevants to make propaganda to further the aims of the federasts. This is explicity political and by any imagination wrong.

This is the clearest example of the EU's doctrine of benficial crisis I have yet to see. It is pernicious and needs to be exposed.

We are asking how much it cost and are demanding that the praliament take it down and apologise. They won't.

Update
Within 3 hrs of uploading the video onto Youtube the Parliament Authorities had disabled comments. It now has 33 likes, 159 dislikes so far. It rather shows that they don't like it up em. Instead you are now directed to their Facebook page where the deabte about this video is contained but pretty fierce. PR #Fail for the EP I fear.

Onanism for euro nerds

Cor this is beautiful.

Go on, have a play. See how many regulations were created about Agricultural policy in the field of Afgricultural Structures by 1980, I can tell you. 38 Directives, 52 Regulations, 242 Legal Decisions and 342 Legal Acts.

Created by a Danish Team they also have a bunch of other toys to play with, all nicely EU focused.

The EU punts its propaganda in Croatia

But please note they are pleased to call it 'objective information'

The Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Luka Bebic, and the head of the European Union Delegation in Croatia, Paul Vandoren, formally installed an EU Info Stand in the Parliament building in Zagreb on Wednesday, containing promotional material about the European Union as part of a campaign to raise public awareness of the EU.

The greater, wider, broader, faster campaign continues. Econmomic crisis will not stop the growth of the European Union, until it stretches from the Atlantic to the Urals.

One day into the war and Europe surrenders

EU thanks China for its support of ailing euro zone

Is the European Parliament protecting Huhne?

Update, I made a hash of this post, however there is still a point in it.


I ask because looking at their archives there is a bit of a hole.

Chris Huhne was an MEP for the period 1999-2005, that is in European Parliamentary terms the 5th and 6th Legislature (not 4th and 5th as I had previously suggested (thanks Jonathan))

Here is his page- with him looking like a chipmunk - on the public archive for the period 2004-2005 (when he left to take up his seat in Eastleigh).

You will note that it includes an attendence record.

It also points out that he was in the previous legislature,

United Kingdom 20.07.1999/19.07.2004: Liberal Democrat Party
United Kingdom20.07.2004/10.05.2005: Liberal Democrat Party

But there is no attendence records for the 5th term, only the 6th despite what it says.

Parliamentary activities in plenary – 6th parliamentary term


Questions [See]

Attendance list [See]


Parliamentary activities in plenary – 5th parliamentary term

Questions [See]

Motions for resolutions [See]

Reports [See]

Speeches in plenary [See]

Of course the attendence record for that term would include the key dates of the 12th/13th March 2003.

While Rome burns

Yes we are all amused/horrified by the goings on in a New York Court. There again the Brussels absurdity of the Portuguese and Greek bailouts.

But this could, maybe should be one of the biggest stories out there.

China has declared war on Europe.

And given the relative health of the two economies it is a brave man who will bet on a European victory.

TOGETHER WE MUST MAKE THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF THE BRAIN 2014 A REALITY

I have long felt that these boondoggling beanfeasts that the the 'Year of the..., Week of the ... Day of the ... hour of the...' and so on are a ridiculous carry on. And to that extent this is no different. As they point out, for one of these things to take place this must happen,

For a European Year to be launched it must be proposed by the European Commission. A European Council agreement must follow (among the relevant national ministers) and this must be approved by the European Parliament which will vote on the budget. This decision making process takes several years since it requires each institution to commit to doing something concrete.

And then, having got that far, more money needs to be spent,

It also requires the corresponding budget to be approved at European and national levels

Why?

so that activities such as European, national and local-level awareness-raising campaigns and proposals for political initiatives (a new European programme, new legislation, new political objectives etc) can be funded.

No fun wiothout new laws now is it, and hectoring, and bossing around and being told that this or that activitry is deliterious to thye brain, like smashing you head against a brick wall demanding reform perchance? Or listening to the interminable speeches, in favour of this sort of thing.

The whole charade will be stuffed with preening shirts waffling on, leaving the audience feeling that they have listened to a Vogon poetry reading.

They are treating it like a European City of Culture, or attempting to win the World Cup. Who gets the franchise!!!

Ok, there is lots of worthy stuff about brian disease, but this particular ambition did strike me,

Promote normal brain function and development and address barriers to these.

When in debt, best get onto the starting grid

Gloriously inappropriate stuff from the Greeks. There they are in the midst of the crisis. Pensioners are having their taxes sent to SAthens to prop up their welfare state and lo and behold the Greek government decide to spend some of Germany's hard earned cash, on a, Formula 1 track.

Yehay,
The project has an estimated cost of 94 million euros ($135 million) and will be partly subsidised by the Greek state.

The track, designed to accommodate Formula One races as well as motorbike and cart events, will be built near the town of Farres, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Patras.

Austerity all round.

I am sure Hockenheim and Nuremburg will be delighted

The Barnier blueprint

Missed this yesterday, but the New York Times didn't. Michel Barnier wandered off his normal brief to give a comprehensive view of what he feels the EU should be, and interesting reading it makes. Sounds all so good,

Citizens need to be told the truth. The truth about where we are headed. The truth about what we are within this union. And about what we are not.

We are a continent where every people, every religion and every opinion is respectable and respected.

But it appears that he doesn't mean these grand words as to him not all opinion is respectable or respected. The speech starts by taking a pot shot at Timo and the True Finns, for doing so well in their elections.

Only a few days ago, in Finland, and a few months ago, in France, over 20% of those countries’ citizens cast their votes for extremist and populist movements which are seeking to retreat behind their national borders. In other words, they are seeking to bring an end to the European project.

and uses that as a call to arms (quite literally) for Europe,

It is the reason we need to move towards a truly European defence policy.

60 years on, work on a European defence community needs to be restarted, if necessary through the “structured cooperation” which is now possible under the Lisbon Treaty. A true military staff structure, systematically bringing together research efforts and resources, and favouring European products when purchasing equipment. All of this goes far beyond the necessary, but insufficient, cooperation between France and the United Kingdom, or between Germany and Sweden.

The EU needs to set up a permanent capacity to plan and carry out operations in the way suggested by Poland, Germany and France.

Given the way that the Cameron crew are diminishing our own armed forces it might be that the British Government endorse this view. But to me it speaks volumes of the naked ambition of the Eurocrats.

Elsewhere he decides that an EU wages policy is necessary as well as beggar your neighbour taxation options.

there will have to be rules on bonuses and the highest salaries which, at a time when 10% of Europeans are unemployed, are simply unjustifiable. A tax on financial transactions will have to be set up.

Immigration is no longer a matter for the nation, or the people who already live there,

we need to work together to build a true common asylum system in Europe, one which gives tangible form to our European values of humanism and solidarity. In 2010, 223 000 decisions on applications for asylum were taken. Europe has a duty and the means to offer this solidarity. On its own, no Member State will be able to achieve what we must achieve together.

To be successful, we need to have a strong and humanist Community policy on immigration and integration. A policy which respects human dignity and allows the free movement of people without causing a brain-drain in developing countries. Those are our values. Those are our traditions.

These are pour traditions? Can this silly man actually point to this tradition in any of the 27 nation states of Europe? Can he? Really? then let him do so.

Oh go and read the whole thing, and understand once again that it is not the Eurocrats who lie and hide their plans, but merely our own political elite too fearful of the popular voice to admit to it.

Robert Geobbels: The perfect Euro Parliamentarian

The unfortunately named Mr Goebbels (the socialist former finance minister of Luxembourg) has stuck his oar into an online debate in the Parliament about where the Parliament should sit. Brussles or Strasbourg or both. This is how he prefaces his remarks..

Je pense que le premier devoir d'un législateur est de respecter les traités.

Or in my translation,

"The first dutry of a legislator is to respect the Treaties"

Which is not my view at all. To me the first duty of a legislator is to represent the views of his or her constituents. But there again, this is the European parliament.

That flag ceremony

The guns, the German Eagle, the fact the flag gets stuck twice and the marching out of step. If it weren't so serious it would be comical.

It is as if Ealing studios had scripted the event.

The EU to last "Forever"

Oh dear dear Herman Van Rompuy. In a flight of his famous poetic fancy he has penned a Haiku in honour of Europe day.

A corona of stars / Rolling over the deep blue sea / Together forever

OK, we know that Haiku is a formal structure, we know it has limited scope, but "together forever"?
Isn't that a tad optimistic, isn't it a tad '1000 year'?

All hail the Wehrmacht, I mean the Bundeswehr

Eurocorps do their thing

Happening now in Strasbourg

In the framework of the celebrations of the Europe day

Jerzy BUZEK

President of the European Parliament

kindly requests the pleasure of your company at the official ceremony of the raising of the colours of the European Flag to mark the occasion of the 25 anniversary of the adoption of the European flag by the European communities . The ceremony will take place the 9 of May 2011 at 5:30 pm on the "forecourt" of the Louise Weiss Building, with the participation of the Eurocorps and the Luftwaffenmusikkorps

Love the "Luftwaffenmusikkorps "