European Commission warns UK

[Professor Buzzkill]

Dream on. If Germany has more influence it is purely because it is more economically stable and successful than the UK. Hard fact to stomach - but true none the less.

And please don't comment on a country (Ireland) of which you know **** about.

BrCornelius

Touched a nerve? The truth hurts BR.

I actually do wonder what someone like Michael Collins would think of giving up sovereignty so readily.

[Guest]

Touched a nerve? The truth hurts BR.

I actually do wonder what someone like Michael Collins would think of giving up sovereignty so readily.

Michael Collins lived a hundred years ago and was a bit of a fanatic. I suggest what he said wouldn't be a very good judge of what was sensible in the present.

The Irish have gained from the EU and their standard of living is considerably advanced as a consequence of membership. As in Greece - the Irish people are well aware of where the blame for their current predicament lies - and that is firmly in the hands of corrupt domestic politicians. Until we finally get some decent representatives - we are grateful for the assistance that the EU has offered in shaping a national strategy.

Br Cornelius

[stevewinn]

Michael Collins lived a hundred years ago and was a bit of a fanatic. I suggest what he said wouldn't be a very good judge of what was sensible in the present.

The Irish have gained from the EU and their standard of living is considerably advanced as a consequence of membership. As in Greece - the Irish people are well aware of where the blame for their current predicament lies - and that is firmly in the hands of corrupt domestic politicians. Until we finally get some decent representatives - we are grateful for the assistance that the EU has offered in shaping a national strategy.

Br Cornelius

The Nation of Ireland economically and politically insignificant. remember when it use to be called the celtic tiger, Ireland joined the EU to have all the benefits the EU promised. yet they find themselves as one of the PIIGS. bailed out to the tune of Billions of Euros/pounds. in debt - owing money to everyone. how the hell did it go from boom to bust, all while being in the glorious European Union. ireland is now dictated to by the EU - under the bailout conditions they have impose cuts to its people. i guess this is the price you pay for jumping in two feet first.

Spain have had a bail out for the banks. its only a matter of time before they ask for a bailout for their economy. Greece continues to struggle, Portugal are not out of the woods nor is Italy. and yet all five are full EU members, all signed up to the Euro currency. and now they find themselves not EU members but owned by the EU. between them they owe that much money to others its unbelievable.

all find themselves in the straight jacket, unable to adjust their economy to better suit recovery, unable to devalue the currency unable to adjust interest rates, so while these members find themselves in the mire, Germany prospers with interest rates and currency to suit them. you'd think the collective 17 members - they'd have held a meeting and the struggling countries who are in the majority would have demanded the interest rate and currency be altered for their growth. why didnt they have a vote on the matter germany would have lost the vote, it just goes to show who is running the show in europe.

25% unemployment in the likes of Greece and Spain alone. the quarterly figures expected in november are set to show the euro bloc back in recession. the only conclusion is the economic woes are deepening.

Over here in blighty, we are being pulled down by the euro zone troubles, our exports to the troubled nations have decreased, costing us a bomb helping bail out the EU through the IMF.

[Guest]

Allowing unrestrained property bubbles and unsustainable borrowing is how all of those countries got into the state they are in. As I said the domestic politicians are responsible as the chose to ride the pigs back until it was all to late to make adjustments. That is mainly because they were following a neoliberal agenda of minimal intervention.

As such Irland as a Government were mostly fiscally prudent throughout the period of the Celtic Tigar and operated in credit right up until the crash. They would have no debt if they had have done the prudent thing and told the private banking sector to take a running jump (as they did in Iceland). they were strong armed by the banking sector to nationalise the whole banking sectors debt and then the building sectors debt. This was a mistake and turned a crisis into a disaster.

Things could have been very different and we could now be in recovery. It was the domestic politicians who made the mistake's - not the EU specifically. As I keep telling you - we as a nation could have decided to behave prudently (following the German model) and intervened heavily in the markets (using mechanisms other than interest rates) to prevent the debt bubble and the property bubble. We as a nation chose to follow the British/USA model and are now facing the direr consequences of that decision.

It really isn't very good analysis to blame the EU for domestic mismanagement, and it really isn't very good analysis to say that when the **** finally hits the fan the only choice left is to attempt to devalue your troubles away.

Br Cornelius

Edited October 24, 2012 by Guest

[stevewinn]

We as a nation chose to follow the British/USA model and are now facing the direr consequences of that decision.

i guess thats what happens when you try to emulate the Big Boys.

http://www.telegraph...liam-Hague.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9628535/EU-demands-an-extra-11.5bn-from-British-taxpayers.html

EU demands an extra £11.5bn from British taxpayers

British taxpayers will have to fork out an extra £11.5 billion in contributions to fund increases in Brussels budgets after the European Union dismissed a plea from William Hague for spending restraint.

As the Foreign Secretary used a keynote Berlin speech to plead that EU budgets stayed "in touch with the real world", MEPs and the European Commission agreed a series of demands that will increase EU expenditure by £95 billion over the next eight years.

"People simply do not understand why there should be massive increases in the EU budget when all EU countries are trying to balance the books at home," he said on Tuesday.

"EU member states are €3.5 trillion (£2.8trn) more in debt now than when the last EU budget was negotiated. The EU budget has to reflect these changed facts."

David Cameron has threatened to veto a Brussels demand for over £80 billion in increases for the long-term EU budget running from 2014 to 2020 at a summit that has been scheduled next month.

Rejecting the Prime Minister's call for a long-term spending freeze, the European Parliament and Commission also tabled demands for increased expenditure in 2012 and 2013.

The Commission on Tuesday demanded a £7.3 billion spending increase by the end of this year to meet a funding shortfall, figures that are disputed by Britain and other governments.

Meanwhile, meeting in Strasbourg, MEPs voted to reinstate over £6.5 billion in funding that had been cut by national government from next year's budget.

The EU assembly also voted to support the commission's demand for an 11 per cent increase in the "multi-annual financing framework" (MFF) for 2014-2020 while warning Mr Cameron not to attempt an veto.

Hannes Swoboda, the Austrian leader of the European Socialist Party, that includes Labour MEPs, warned Mr Cameron that if he succeeded in cutting long-term spending the parliament would use its own legal powers to impose an even higher EU bill for British taxpayers.

"If Mr Cameron threatens to use his veto, he should be aware that we can do it as well. The European Parliament is much stronger than Mr Cameron," he said.

If MEPs blocked the MFF, spending over the seven-year period would be calculated using the 2013 budget "ceiling" as a reference point, increasing the bill for governments from over £80 billion to almost £120 billion.

Richard Ashworth, the leader of Britain's Tory MEPs in the European Parliament, attacked, Mr Swoboda's "threatening rhetoric". "We will not be cowed, but will continue to resist this folly with steady determination," he said.

"The UK taxpayer is being used as a cash cow by the EU," said Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip. "The EU is one political club whose membership fee is becoming prohibitive."

Edited October 25, 2012 by stevewinn