We know what is good for you

I n the end everybody will vote for the Bailout. Even little Slovakia which has been holding out against it for quite a while.
Last year the PM even went as far as describing the whole bail out process as

participating in a "pyramid scheme."

So it is no surprise to have the European Commission lecturing them as they have today,

“The euro has been very, very beneficial for Slovakia,” Amadeu Altafaj, the European Commission's economic affairs spokesman, told a news briefing.

“It is in the self-interest of Slovakia's citizens and politicians to endorse these enhancements,” he said, noting that Bratislava, along with all other eurozone members, backed the EFSF overhaul at a crisis summit in July.

“So it should be ratified by the parliament, hopefully, soon,” he said, warning that there was no “Plan B” for the eurozone.

Plesae note that I would have thought it was the business of the Slovaks themselves to decide what is and isn't t in their own interests, not soime jumped up Eastern European Press Officer who co-incidentally had rather a hard time when faced with Mr Oborne earlier in the week. Yes it is he.

Sharon Bowles: Confused Carbon Crusader

Meet Sharon Bowles, Lib Dem MEP for the South East and a woman really rather pleased with herself - Two of he last 9 press releases have been about how important she is (here and here). 

She tweeted tonight that she had been really quite busy,

Wonder who footed the bill?

Last 3 weeks have been Strasbourg, Poland, Manchester, Brussels, Washington, Strasbourg. Now nearly home at last!

Which is all very exciting for her, not sure whether we are supposed to sympathise or bow in awe. (Amused that she went to Manchester - with the the Tories next week, rather than to Birmingham where the Lib/Dems were last week.

But what I am really impressed with is the travel, she must have a carbon footprint the size of Hampshire (of course as a very important person she cannot do video conferencing or anything like that she has to travel in person. Here she is taking others to task.

Update
She didn't go to Manchester after all

SharonBowlesMEP
Yow, I am so tired I do not know where I have been, was Birmingham not Manchester!

A tale of two polls

I give you the vote in the Bundestag this afternoon. In which Angela Merkle amnaged to get the vote she wanted, Germany will pay on the nail (at least the last tranche of the Greek bailout). The next vote is a few months away and she has gained her breathing space. But at what cost?


The numbers tacked up thusly,

The result of the vote was read out by Wolfgang Thierse, deputy speaker of the Bundestag: 523 voted in favour and 85 against, 3 members abstained.
The result means that the vote passed with 85.6 per cent support in the house. But we still need to wait for the precise breakdown to see if Ms Merkel got her absolute majority based on her own supporters.

The problem is that there was another poll done last week in Germany by the broadcaster ZDF, which highlights the utter disconnect between the political class and the  people who, they ought to be reminded, pay their wages.

As their politicians prepare for next Thursday’s parliamentary vote on extending the euro rescue fund, a survey has found that a clear majority of Germans do not want them to decide in favour.

A survey commissioned by public broadcaster ZDF showed that 75 percent of those asked, rejected the idea. Only 19 percent supported the proposed increase to €211 billion of the German credit guarantees to rescue the euro.

This rejection was fairly evenly spread through all political colours, with 70 percent of conservatives expressing that view as well as 73 percent of Social Democrat (SPD) supporters, 71 of Left voters, 67 percent of Green supporters and 82 percent of Pirate Party supporters, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday.

 That the German people were rather confused as to what to do at all is apparant from the rest of the poll, but that is hardly surprisng given the political monocuulture that that country has had to deal with since the war.

The good news keeps coming for Brussels

Or rather it doesn't. Bloomberg have just produced their quarterly survey of their subscribers and it makes pretty dire reading.

About three-quarters of those questioned this week said the euro-area economy will fall into recession during the next 12 months and 53 percent said turmoil will worsen in a banking sector laden with government bonds, according to the quarterly Global Poll of 1,031 investors, analysts and traders who are Bloomberg subscribers. Forty percent see the 17-nation currency bloc losing at least one member in the next year.

And it gets worse

Fifty-six percent said they will reduce their exposure to the euro in the next six months and even one in three inside the region plan to. Half of all investors said they expect the Euro Stoxx 50 index to fall.

and worse

The debt crisis is raising questions about whether the 12- year old currency bloc can maintain its current form. While 4 in 10 respondents said they expected a nation to leave within a year, a further 32 percent said a member would leave in two to five years. Fifty-one percent said the euro zone would collapse at some point although only 8 percent expected that to occur in the next year.

That is a full 72% reckon that in the next few years at least one country will be forced out of the Euro.

Posing the question to get the right answer

Tim Montgomery, now that he has a Sunday column has to find something to write about. So he has uncreasingly turned to his monthly surveys of Conservative Home readers thoughts to provide himself with copy. His latest survey will be no exception, with a general overview of policy and his normal who is up, who is down surveys of the Tory cabinet memmbers. Indeed this week it will be particularly apt coming as it does after the Lib Dem conference and no doubt to be revealed during the Tory bunfest in Manchester.

So my gut feeling he is planning to cause Cameron some damage comes when we look at queston number 7,

If Cameron could have THREE of the following people in his Cabinet who would he choose? Don’t choose who YOU would like but who you think David Cameron would prefer.

John Redwood
Graham Brady
Vince Cable
Nadine Dorries
David Laws
Bill Cash
Boris Johnson
Simon Hughes
Nick Clegg
David Davis
Tim Farron

I mean, we are talking who Cameron would want, and to be frank it is a no brainer isn't it? He would have David Laws, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable. The Tory options would bring him out in hives.

Thus Montgomery is setting out to prove that the Tory membership think that Cameron is happier with those of a different tribe than their own.

Naughty, Naughty Tim.

Junker: I was wrong to be honest about being a liar

In a rather shambolic exchange between UKIP's Nigel Farage and Jean-Claude Junker, President of the Eurozone, Junker comes up with an interesting point.

"Yes I lied, but I was wrong to have be so honest about it."



Worse he refuses to answer the important question, which is whether Greece can default and remain in the Eurozone.

Legally it can be done of course. It would take one hell of a lot of rewriting of contracts and would be a bureacratic nightmare, but it can be done.

However politically it is very interesting.

What will the EU say to Ireland for example? After all why should the Irish pay back 100% of their bailouts while the Greeks get a 50% cut.

Or what will he say to Italy who will read the lesson that it doesn't matter about too much austerity as the Eurozone will allow a default on its debts?

Neither of these key issues is addressed, and leaves the whole issue of Greek default is still a Gordian knot.

Lib Dems call for more Climate taxes

Sir Graham Watson, the republican Lib Dem MEP for teh South West (who refers to his constituents as 'Them') is out there demanding that people pay more tax to pay for his hobby horse,

"This campaign comes at a crucial time, as the EU's overall spending plans for the 2014-2020 budgetary period are being drawn up as we speak. We are calling for €2 bn a year for research and €3 bn per year from structural funds for building a European supergrid and supporting large-scale renewable energy installations."

Of course it comes at a crucial time, a time when the entire continent ios flat broke and pouring money into the sand is just not the way to go. Who does he think will have to pay for this 'surge'?

'Cast Iron Cameron' - How much is his word worth?

I only ask because it isn't just us UKIP types that are getting fed up with his vaccilating and dishonesty over his Euro promises.

Here he is back in 2006 signing an uncontroversial little petition, you know, the one that says wasting  £150million a year on Strasbourg is daft.

Today at the Conservative conference David Cameron became the first UK party leader to sign the 1,000,000 strong petition to terminate the Strasbourg parliament.


He signed the http://www.oneseat.eu/ campaign which aims to persuade the European Commission and the member states that Brussels must be the sole seat of the European Parliament and that the monthly parliamentary sessions in Strasbourg bring the reputation of the EU into disrepute.

On the day David Cameron and Timothy Kirkhope MEP, Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, launch the new Movement for European Reform, Mr Kirkhope said:

“David Cameron’s endorsement of the campaign is a symbol of how we Conservatives want to reform Europe. To be in Europe, leading in Europe is our aim. Ending the Strasbourg circus is a first step on the road to reform.”

Dear Timothy showing that touching belief in Dave so prevalent amongst Tory MEPs and apologists. It was a symbol he said, of how Conservatives were about to reform Europe.

Yeah right. Timothy. You know what happens next, because it is so obvious, so predictable.

Only in May here he was reconfirming his support for the campaign, but now it seems that he has bowed down to the French,

The leader of the UK Tory delegation in parliament has launched a withering attack on his own government for refusing to 'intervene' in the row over the assembly's 'travelling circus'.


Martin Callanan's attack comes after the UK coalition government declined to make representations to an ongoing court case over parliament's split-site arrangement.

France has taken a case to the European courts objecting to a vote by MEPs to reduce the monthly plenary sessions held in Strasbourg.

All member states have the opportunity to 'intervene' in the court case and all the mainstream British political parties expected the coalition government led by David Cameron to do so.

However, the coalition has controversially decided it would not formally declare its support for the MEP vote on Strasbourg.

How many more times does Dave have to let down his own side before they realise that his heart isn't in it. He is never going to do anything to defend Britain against the excesses of the Eurocrats?

It is rather sad, but as Desmond Swayne, Cameron's PPS put it in a letter to a constituent,

Anyone who believes that this government can expedite our escape from the EU is living in a world of illusion

Having given up on an industrial future, the EU concentrates on its industrial past

It is a sad day, but there you have it,

The 2011 European Tourism Day event will be entitled " Industrial heritage: differentiating the European tourism offer " and will be held on 27 September 2011, on the occasion of World Tourism Day.

And what is the lead item in this overview of European Industrial Heritage,

The Hanoi-Kunming railway
The Sino-Vietnamese Railway was built by France to connect Haiphong in Vietnam with Kunming in the Yunnan province of China. The 855 km line opened in 1910. The Chinese section of the railway is currently only used for freight but projects are ongoing to open it again to passengers transport.

Yup, something in Indo-China that's main purpose today is to help our competitors.

Lagarde takes her cues from Breugel

All this stuff we are hearing today in the press about a new solution to the debt crisis in the realms of financial fiction, trillion dollars here and there must be ringing bells amongst the participants in a recent think tank role playing game.

This is what is being talked about,

Europe takes centre stage as a new rescue plan seems to be taking shape. EU monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said that Europe’s leaders are talking about extending the EFSF rescue fund possibly to the tune of EUR2 trillion. The EFSF is currently EUR440bn, but it could leverage its size by insuring the issuance of member states’ debt and linking up with the ECB. There is also speculation that the European Stability Mechanism that was due to come into action in 2013 could be brought forward.

The Brussels based think tank Breugel had. with the backing of Peterson Institute for International Economics and major city players Tudor and Blackrock dragged a number of key finacial types, policy makers and so on and billeted them in a castle near Chantilly on the 13th-14th September.

And here they played a game,
The solution?
In the war game the EU/IMF decided to expand the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to between $3 trillion (£1.9tn; 2.2tn euros) and $5 trillion (£3.2tn ; 3.7tn euros). This was done by leveraging the 440bn euros supplied under the EFSF legislation going through European parliaments this week, plus match funding from the IMF. And by the ECB issuing "collateralised finance".


That is, by pledging around 700bn euros, they borrowed up to $5tn and then lent it to European banks and countries, starting with Greece. They got the money by mortgaging the assets of Europe basically, because $5tn is a lot. They mortgaged the EFSF money, and then the ECB borrowed money against the future tax revenues of Europe.

There were two interesting outcomes:

1. They saved the euro. Greece, Ireland et al stayed inside, now protected forever - certainly for the lifetime of the participants, who were mainly on the upside of 35 - by the wedge of money conjured from thin air.

2. It didn't solve the structural problems facing the periphery - but simply gave them more time to sort it out.

An account of the game reports:

"The large new lending facility was seen by some players as free money for errant countries without sufficient conditionality."

Interestingly George Soros spoke the day before, and wasn't very positive,
Update
I note that Paul Mason of Newsnight covered this self same story last night.

This Breughel document is doing the rounds in Washington DC, and contains an uncanny blueprint for what might now be about to happen. However the term "war game" always summons up a defensive reaction in me. Not because I am against them: I am a bit of an addict. But they can be deceptive.


The Soviet high command shot and imprisoned staff officers who, between 1938 and 1941, argued that war game evidence suggested a mobile defence against a German blitzkrieg would be necessary. They relentlessly shaped the war game evidence towards the USSR's swift victory in a WW1-style "war of position". They did this by ignoring key facts.

Now, call me cynical but assembling 50 well-heeled types at Chateau Les Fontaines in Chantilly might not have given us the best hands-on understanding of how the actual people of Europe might take the issuing of $5tn of free money to once again save the banks.

Viz: the Germans and Finns might revolt against it, the Greek workers might take it and run with it, and Europe's trade partners/rivals might see it as a tad in breach of every global rule on the planet.

It was of course, Breughel the elder who painted this.

That's not cyncial, that is reasonable

An orderly Greek default and exit from the euro may be necessary; a disorderly default could precipitate a meltdown

On the second day, a simulation game took place among the conference participants in what amounted to a stress-test for European debt policy. The game was directed by Andrew Gracie of Crisis Management Analytics. Gracie is a former member of the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Group with a strong track record in running simulated games for central banks globally. No sitting officials participated and the game was held under the Chatham House rule. Participants played the roles of the governments of France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain; decision-makers for the ECB, IMF, and United States; and decision-makers in commercial banks in the countries involved and non-bank financial market actors. In addition, in response to successive rounds of the game as it unfolded, other participants provided expertise in the areas of credit ratings, legal and accounting issues, and political repercussions. As the simulation unfolded, a solution to fend-off speculative attacks was found

An ecstasy of fumbling

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! Wrote Wilfred Owen But the fumbling we see here isn't that vile corruting stuff that filled thousands of young lungs, but they stuff of life, energy and warmth. And the fumbler. That egregious idjit Chris Huhne.

I give you exhibit 1, This is him way back in July,

Huhne also ushered in a new "dash for gas", inviting the construction of new gas-fired power stations with a promise that a new "emissions performance standard" would be set at a rate that favoured gas but blocked new coal-fired power. He promised this new regulation would not be reviewed until 2015, and any revision would not be retroactive, giving gas companies a clear window for investment. "We are sending a clear signal that we do want new gas," he said

And exhibit 2, from the Lib Dem conference,

The UK's "dash for gas" will be halted by the government because if unchecked it would break legally binding targets for carbon dioxide emissions, Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary, said on Monday evening. "We will not consent so much gas plant so as to endanger our carbon dioxide goals," he told a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrats party conference in Birmingham.

Compare and contrast.

This was brought to my attention by Ben Pile of Climate resistance who points out,

These contradictory statements reflect the incoherence of the coalition's energy policies. The UK now seems to be sitting on top of an abundance of cheap natural gas, which could very quickly realise an answer to the UK's looming energy problems. Furthermore *if* climate change and energy security are real problems, a combination of gas and nuclear energy are viable, proven, existing solutions to them.

But whether or not climate change is a problem, and whether or not gas and nuclear energy are solutions to them, the UK is committed to meeting 30% of its energy needs from renewable sources, thanks to EU legislation and the Climate Change Act. The EU and UK's ideological commitments to the 'environment' mean that green, low-carbon energy alternatives are going to be rejected in favour of wind energy, higher fuel bills, and unemployment.

Rewriting revisionism

Peter Oborne and Frances Weaver's new pamphlet for the Tory allied think tank the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), "Guilty Men" deliberately apes the famous paper co-authored by Micheal Foot under the psuedonym Cato. That savaged those whose appeasment  left this country so vulnerable to the rise of Nazi Germany. This singles out those who it says are to blame for our situation vis-a-vis the EU and the Euro in particular.

But not only does it single out the villans, the FT, the BBC, the CBI and a series of individuals all too well known to us. It accuses them of a campaign of belittlement and inaccuracy , of outrageous slurs and plain bias. But of course it misses something out entirely,

Here is my yet to be moderated comment on the CPS blog,

"Cranks, Gadflys", "a bunch of fruit cakes and loonies and closet racists mostly"


Just the sort of thing the authors rail against. The sort of attacks those brave Conservative eurosceptics have had to endure from the Euro federalists on the left and in the BBC and the FT.

But of course those insults do not come up in this book, because they were hurled by two leaders of the Conservative Party at UKIP. UKIP which has been traduced time and time again by those you attack in this pamphlet.

Is this highlighted? Well no, not really, there is one glancing reference to UKIP in relation to the wildly disproportionate coverage given to John Steven's Pro Euro Conservatives on page 29. Other than that silence. Nothing even in the index.

Amazingly, UKIP peer and former Party Leader Lord Pearson is described merely as a businessman with no reference to the party he lead.

In the afterword this paper's debt to the hundreds of thousands of pounds that he has personally spent on the Minator study into BBC bias is highlighted, the impact that it has and upon the BBC through the Wilson and Lyon's report which specifically mention that level of anti-Eurosceptic (and anti UKIP ) bias in indeed valuable.

But maybe while we applaud the "courage of unfashionable politicians" including a couple of former Prime Ministers and the Current Foreign Secretary, as well as the Chairman of the European Select Committee this paper may have mentioned in passing the courage of those who, in defence of this country's liberty have eschewed preferment at all.

That will be UKIP, but maybe to the authors, and to the CPS, UKIP remain there to be scorned, just to keep the Conservative Eurosceptics backsides firmly planted on the pile of fresh-grown laurels.

So two cheers for Mr Oborne and Ms Weaver

OK, so that's the bad news, but how bad does it get really?

Christine Lagarde has been waffling on in Washington on the back of the World Economic Outlook report produced by the IMF which she heads.

What is interesting about the report is how it was reported, The press picked up and heavily repeated the first sentence of the report,

The global economy is in a dangerous new phase.

Terrifyingly portentious as it is. The great cuts to expected growth figures were thrown about and the markets had a series of jitters.

In the group's latest predictions, economic growth was lowered by 1 percentage point for the U.S. to a 1.6 percent rate of growth in 2011 and by nearly as much for 2012 to 1.9 percent. The Euro-zone was lowered 0.4 percentage points for 2011 to 1.5 percent and by 0.6 percentage points in 2012 to a 1.1 percent rate of growth

But if the hacks had bothered to look a bit further down the page, if they had strayed into the second paragraph indeed they would have seen something far far worse.

Put it this way the headlines are bad enough, but what about this?

World Economic Outlook (WEO) projections indicate that global growth will moderate to about 4 percent through 2012, from over 5 percent in 2010. Real GDP in the advanced economies is projected to expand at an anemic pace of about 1½ percent in 2011 and 2 percent in 2012, helped by a gradual unwinding of the temporary forces that have held back activity during much of the second quarter of 2011. However, this assumes that European policymakers contain the crisis in the euro area periphery

that is my italics.

Now given that there isn't a cat in hell's chance of European Policy makers containing the crisis in the Euro area periphery, what are the real figures, how bad are the real projections if we do nott make that sanguine assumption.

My blood runs cold.

Well somebody needs to speak the unspoken

UKIP are organising, through their Parliamentary group a rather interesting conference in the EP in a fortnight.

Poor old  Evangelos Venizelos. The Greek finance Minister's daily lot must be pretty tough. So tough that, rather than accepting responsibility for his own country's actions is rather keen on deflecting blame.

'Blackmail' he shouted two days ago attacking the EU and the IMF,

Mr Venizelos said: "If we want to stabilise the situation, if we want to avert default, if we want to remain in the core of the eurozone, if we want the country to stop being blackmailed and humiliated - because no citizen should have to put up with humiliation of their country - we have to make three large strategic decisions as part of our national strategy."

Blackmail he called again today in the Greek Parliament, this time targetting his ire at those shadowy markets,

“We will not put the country’s very existence at risk over matters that account for half or 1 percent of G.D.P.,” he said. “The markets are blackmailing us and the circumstances are humiliating us.”

But as Paul Mason at the BBC has pointed out on his twitter feed

Venizelos - Greece blackmailed by the markets. Half Gr debt held by Greek banks/ funds, 1/4 by foreign states/ecb. Who blackmails whom?

"time is running out" for Cameron as UKIP rises

You might think I would say that, but in this case it isn't me, but the highly respected Hudson Institute in New York.

In an article out today A. Millar looks at the Conservative Party of today and wonders where it is going and what it is, at heart for.

His conclusion should encourage UKIP supporters no end, but also poses the party a challange.Essentially is UKIP up to taking up a bigger role?

Aruging that it is the Conservatives failings, notthe Lib/Dems activities that is causing Cameron and the Government problems he says,

In power just over a year, the Conservative-LibDem coalition Government has more or less continued the policies of the much-detested former Labour Government. It is not worse, perhaps; it is simply that there has been no discernable positive change. Yet, to blame the LibDems is merely to shift the blame. The Conservatives dominate the coalition. They would also have won a historic number of seats in Parliament had they discussed the substantive issues, and promised essentially conservative measures, during the election campaign.

Of course this goes against the CCO spun narrative, that the Tory party must move to the centre, while ignoring its base. But it has purchase as millions ofthose who thnk of themselves as tribal Conservativbes see their own party wandering off into the muddled middle.

After more than a year in power, the verdict on the Conservative Party is damning. For those who support Israel; who believe the UK should withdraw from the EU; who believe in law and order and strong military deterrence; who want to see immigration cut and the English treated fairly, there is simply no possibility of supporting the party as it currently exists under David Cameron.

Historically this didn't matter, after all where could the disgruntled Tory voter go. Millar points out that there is now a vessel to hold those votes.

This is something that the United Kingdom Party's leader, Nigel Farage, understands. He believes that his party will not only pick up the protest vote (which has previously gone in large part to the LibDems), but will continue to pick up more Conservative votes, as the party's faithful realize that they have elected merely a version of New Labour.

Of course this requires UKIP to be able to move up a gear and become relevant across a whole platform of policies but the prize is great,

Although Farage's message will resonate with some former Labour and LibDem supporters, it is clear that he has set his sights on disgruntled conservatives who had naively looked on Cameron as the last best hope to revive England. Many had already realized that, under his leadership, the Conservatives had turned into little more that a version of New Labour, and had defected prior to the election.


In 2010 the UKIP vote cost the Conservatives ten seats and an outright majority. Farage is clearly aiming for more than that in the next election. He wants to win seats and to replicate the success his party has had in EU elections, and in local and UK national elections. "If you're a patriotic, Euro-skeptic, Conservative voter," Farage announced at the annual conference, "under David Cameron you're party has now ceased to exist. If you want to vote for what you believe in, you must come and vote UKIP."

The challange is their and the prize is nothing less than our countries freedom.

If Cameron wants to prove Farage wrong, time is running out.

Cripes, things are moving in Brussels

When events like this are taking place in the European Parliament you can imagine the stench of fear in the corridors

I need a lie down, take a stress pill and think things over

I challange you to guess who said this...

"What is the point of extending our commitments if none of the other big economies say that they are willing to follow, if not today, then at least at some time tomorrow?
"If we are to keep the Kyoto Protocol alive, we must have some indications that you [the other big economies] are entering at some point. We are willing to keep that possibility open, but we need other countries - the U.S., emerging economies and others - to say when they are going to commit in a more binding form than we have seen hitherto."

"Some seem to think that if only Europe took a second commitment period, that would make Durban a big success. The world should not fool itself. It’s only interesting to keep Kyoto alive if somebody is following. Europe represents only 11% of global emissions. What will the other 89% do?"

I only ask because it is rather sensible and puts into question our own Government's much vaunted position on taking the lead in driving our own economy into the sand.

Oh the answer is here

"Persistant National Identities"

There you are trying to stuff your finger in the Utopia's dyke and won't you know it but something just gets in the way.

Finance officials and experts gathered in Italy mostly agreed Saturday that Europe needs deeper political union to preserve the troubled euro—even though persistent national identities made the prospect politically unlikely in the near future.

According to AP, Experts are telling us that

Europe needs more perfect union

It is just part of the European post-faith religion. Even the language drips of the litergy. Either that or tyhe arrogance of fluent Eurocrat,

Unless Europeans agree "to complete economic and monetary union ... with a fiscal union, with a strong governance, with a feeling that some political decision should be adopted in common by those who are sharing the single currency, we will not succeed," said Joaquin Almunia, the vice president of the EU commission, the closest thing to a central government in the union.

Who wiull not suceed? The poltical elite, those who dream technicolour integrationalist dreams? Becaiuse it certainly isn't the people of Europe who feel this way as Mario Monti almost admits,

the current structure depends on national governments acting in concert when needed. But instead, said Italian economist Mario Monti, governments are becoming increasingly "short-termist"—preferring to pander to voters even if the result is dysfunction on the European level.

Ye Gods No, you mean a couple of Governments (and Yes Finland, he means you) actually try to reflect the wishes of their people? Sorry pandering to the wishes of their people. Don't those thick necked unwashed bruisers, the hoiu polloi not know that we the elite know what is best for them?

The damned ungrateful curs.

An insight into the Euro-elite's mindset

Katinka Barysch is a senior figure at the Centre for European Reform, the Eurocrats think-tank.

She ticks all the right boxes with a masters from the LSE, European Commission work, a bit of journalism and various advisory EU related roles.

And she doesn't like democracy much. Here she is talking to Reuters about the Finnish collateral demand. (That is Finland's agreement with Greece about getting collateral for their bailouts and loans)

...if Finland gets its wish for collateral to back loans to Greece under a new 109 billion euro (97 billion pounds) rescue package.

Katinka Barysch of the Centre for European Reform in London said the Finnish attitude was harmful for Europe.

"That is an attitude that if it materialised in Germany would be very dangerous," Barysch said. "The only good solution I can imagine is to get rid of this. If the Greeks were able to give collateral for all the bonds they issue or for the money we lend them, they wouldn't need us anyway."

The only solution, according to the svelte Ms Barysch is to 'get rid' of the Finnish position. That's a position that has come about because the Finnish government responded to the huge vote for Timo Soini's recently renamed Finns party in this year's general election.
Her solution would be to do what precisely? To get rid of the awkward democratic descision of the Finnish Parliament?

You see Finalnd is a bit of a problem for the lesser spotted Eurocrat,

Finland had said it could drop out of the Greek aid programme if its demands were rejected.
Although Finland's share of the package is tiny, it punches above its weight because of its top-notch credit rating -- which it shares with Austria and the Netherlands -- and the fact that its parliament is empowered to vote on funding issues.

There it is. You see all the other Eurozone countries (and ourselves included) just require the Head of Government to agree at the Council of Ministers. In Finland it is the Parliament that makes the decision. How inconvienient for all good Europeans.

You pays your money

The IMF crowd are down Athens way, and the EU is looking at their books again. Meanwhile they are loking at Ireland.

Here, for example is the Greek situation,

The EU and IMF left a critical audit of Greek finances unfinished on Friday saying more budget work was needed, and the government admitted its deficit target is in trouble.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos conceded that Greece would have to revise its public deficit target for this year, a key condition for continued funding from the 110-billion-euro ($158-billion) EU-IMF-ECB bailout loan agreed last year.

The Greek vacuum is still operating. Slightly better news however comes from Ireland,

The EU has agreed to provide Ireland with the next installment of its bailout package.


Ireland will receive €7.5bn over the next two months from the €85bn package granted by the EU and IMF last year.

The EU said the decision to release funds to Ireland followed "positive" quarterly reviews by the troika.

In a statement released this afternoon, the EU praised Ireland for making progress in the recovery programme and addressing weaknesses in the financial sector.

This isn't good news remember, it is merely not worse news. The bailouts are still necessary, and the crisis is far from over, but the shadow over Greece grows deeper and deeper. Meanwhile, what do they have that could act as collateral?

They say Sex sells

But if sex is just selling sex, then isn't that rather tautological?

Escort agency Girls Company is offering a ‘sex date’ as the prize in a promotional contest. Candidates are asked to confess their ‘most exciting, naughtiest, extreme sex spot or experience’ and post it to the company’s website.

The prize consists of a mile-high flight on board a private jet with a male or female escort – straight, gay or bisexual - and the possibility of becoming a member of the Mile High Club: the people who have had sex on board a plane in mid-flight.

The promotional contest “Win a membership into the Mile High Club” is a first in the Netherlands. Girls Company owner Wouter van der Heijden says it’s a one-off deal.
“So we are not going on a Boeing737, but made a deal to do this in a private jet. Whether sex flights have a future depends on demand, because they are obviously quite expensive.”

Somehow I don't see the video being allowed on any mainstream TV station.

When Money Dies... again

Adam Fergussen, scion of the Scottish squirachy, former Tory MEP and momentarily famous after Warren Buffett tipped his 1975 book 'When Money Dies' has issued a pretty damning overview on the idea of a Eurobvond, so loved by the curreent Chancellor and much of the European Elite.

In the current issue of MoneyWeek he is quoted as saying,

He isn’t so sure: he can’t see how any rule can be made so robust that Greece can’t ignore it. That the eurozone leaders will introduce a Eurobond is improbable but possible. That it will work beyond the short term? Impossible.

Given that Mr Fergusen has been an ardent Europhile all his life this is pretty depressing for those still committed to the European Project. This is a man who was arguing that the Tory European policy should follow John Steven's pro-European Cobnservative Party.

A crime against good taste : and maybe against good sense

This has got to be one of themost cringemaking things I have read for a while.

Birth of a beautiful new EU citizen!
Dear colleagues,

I am very proud to tell you that the European Union has a beautiful new citizen! On the 23rd of August, I gave birth to a son. His name is +%&/ and he's a picture of good health and happiness. My family and I are overjoyed to have him.
Kind regards,

Marije Cornelissen

Dintelstraat %&
1078 VT Amsterdam
The Netherlands

MEP, Green Group

It was accompanied with a photo of said child wearing a natty European Green Party 0-6 months sized t-shirt.

This ditsy woman has just sent round a photo of her child to all the MEPs, assistants and political staffers in the European Parliament. A good few thousand in all.

Firstly, frankly madam you cloying ghastlyness is of no interest to the vast majority of the recipients, its treeacle spam, stop it.

Secondly by making your fortnight old infant a political object you have stripped youitrself and you child of any dignity and privacy that they should have.

And thirdly, I wonder what the good electors of the Netrherlands fewel that same way about your childs supposed new nationality?

You are a blithering idiot and should be laufghed at from ditch and hedge.

The young child... well he is to be pitied.

Bringing attention to bad news

My eye was just caught by a Europeam Commission press release.

Statement by the European Commission on Belgium

Ooo thinks I what's all that about,

The reports in the media this morning on the Commission's position on the state of the Belgian government and the economic situation are unfounded.

What on earth is all that about? well according to Bloomberg it is this,

The EU will tell Belgium that it needs to make important structural reforms to encourage economic growth that can’t be decided by an interim government.

From the Soir.

Seems to me that they protest just that little too much.

Is this really a good look?

This photo could well end up a hostage to fortune.

The photos were sent out this morning from the email of Cathy Ashton, the EU Foriegn Minister. I wonder who those chaps are holding automatic weapons and the EU flag. Which faction do they support, how many prisoners have they killed and so on?

The EU, like everybody else has no idea how things are going to work out, or who will become the new leadership in Tripoli.

Book my tickets now

I have just recieved a fascinating invitaton,

European Broccoli Conference 

This is taking place as part of Fruit Attraction 2011

My breath is baited, it's chief selling point seems to be,

The conference begins with a show cooking & cocktail presented by the prestigious chef Pierre Wind in which broccoli is the main element. 

Isn't that sprouts?