Van Rompuy to push for more migration

In his dinner invite (oh how I bet they wish they just got a traditional stiffy) Herman Van Rompuy has let all the heads of Government of the EU know what it is he want to talk about.

I note this particular passage,

More generally, we should look at ways of overcoming the “skills mismatch” and the “geographic mismatch”. We should for instance develop the EURES portal into a European employment services, improve the recognition of professional qualifications, better support mobile workers, facilitate the portability of pension and other rights and systematically chart future skills needs.

That 'geographical mismatch' is code for... "There are no jobs in Spain or Greece, there are jobs in Germany and the UK, therefore we must spend taxpayers money getting the unemployed over there, into the jobs over there".

I note also that they wait until the port before they get to the main point,

At the very end of our dinner, I propose that we discuss recent developments in the eurozone.

Why they are bothering to talk about anything else beats me. After all it is their house that is falling down around their ears.

First take up of the ECI shows how worthless it is

The European Citizen's initiative was the thing, they said, the thing that shows that we, the European elite are listening, that they care. It was to give that democratic veneer to the distant decisions made by faceless men an women.

The European Citizens' Initiative was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. It allows 1 million citizens from at least one quarter of EU Member States to invite the European Commission to bring forward proposals for legal acts in areas where the Commission has the power to do so.The Regulation governing European Citizens' Initiatives started to apply on 1 April 2012. Since then, requests for registration can be made by citizens' committees made up of at least seven EU citizens who are resident in at least seven EU Member States. Before registering an initiative the Commission must verify that it meets certain minimal legal criteria, i.e. that it is not manifestly abusive, frivolous, vexatious, contrary to European values or outside the scope of the Commission's powers.

And today, as part of tomorrows Europe day celebrations the first ECI has been launched. An exiting day, one that will ring out in the annals (sp) of European Union history. The poeple can finally speak. Here is Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič getting quite excited,

I am thrilled that European Citizens' Initiatives are finally a reality. This is a great boost for participatory democracy in Europe. Now the race is on to see which initiative will be the first to gather one million signatures.

OK, so what is he excited about. What at this time when people are voting for parties that wish to throw down the EU edifice of austerity and Euro madness, when millions are unemployed and the system is teetering on a cliff? What indeed,

"Fraternité 2020 – Mobility. Progress. Europe" is the title of the first initiative, proposed by a committee of EU citizens living in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania and Spain. Their stated motivation is to "enhance EU exchange programmes – like Erasmus or the European Voluntary Service – in order to contribute to a united Europe based on solidarity among citizens".

On the pulse as ever Brussels, you concerns are our concerns.

When will somebody put these people out of our misery?

Odd that they didn't take this one...

The petitions committee will take many questions up the line. But for some reason they didn't like this one.

Petition 0053/2012;by Hans-Josef riedrich (German), on decimating the EU governments
The petitioner draws a comparison with the practice in Roman times of decimatingthe legions as a collective punishment. He suggests the same treatment for Member States’ and EU civil servants.
Information
–          His language is abusive; this should not have been registered as a petition.
 Recommendations
–          Declare inadmissible: the matter does not come within the European Union's fields of activity;
–          remind the petitioner of the rules for submitting petitions.

Cannot for the life of me imagine why.