-:Undertaker:-
07-09-2010, 10:17 PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/7987483/Europe-president-uses-state-of-union-speech-to-ask-for-more-money.html
EU's ever-expanding budget needs expanding - again!
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01710/barroso_1710482c.jpg
More money please! - above: unelected EU Commission President, José Barroso
Speaking to MEPs, in an event billed as emulating the annual speech by the American president to US Congress, the European Commission President insisted that "a euro spent at European level gets you more than a euro spent at national level". "Pooling money at the European level allows member states to cut their costs, avoid overlaps and get a better return on their investment," he said.
Mr Barroso's intervention is timed to coincide with tough negotiations over future financing of the European Union (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/) as the Commission and European Parliament clash with Britain which is seeking to cut expenditure in Brussels. In a bid to escape national vetoes over spending, Mr Barroso proposed giving the EU the right to raise money by issuing bonds, a facility currently limited to "sovereign" nation states. "We should explore new sources of financing for major European infrastructure projects. For instance, I will propose the establishment of EU project bonds, together with the European Investment Bank," he said. So-called "Eurobonds" have been historically favoured by EU federalists keen to give the "union" more state-like powers by allowing it to get loans from bond markets. The idea is regarded with deep suspicion by national governments, including Germany and Britain, because of questions over who will take the responsibility for debt defaults or losses.
A spokesman for Mr Barroso said: "This is not about power, this is about raising finance." Syed Kamall, a Conservative MEP for London, said: "If Barroso gets his way the EU will have the power to raise its own taxes and sell debt. It is hard to say how this is anything but a big step towards a federal Europe. Governments should have the power to raise taxes and sell debt, not the EU."
During the "state of the union" debate, Nigel Farage, Ukip's European leader, told Mr Barroso that "there is one fundamental difference between you and US President Obama". "He, of course, is elected and you are not," he said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK5BlbLDnyg
George Osborne, the Chancellor was yesterday in Brussels for talks on Commission proposals on new EU rules to restrict national budgets in the wake of the Greek debt crisis earlier this year. He warned Mr Barroso and the Commission that he would not accept their plans to raise an extra £3 billion for EU budgets by axing a British rebate, negotiated by Baroness Thatcher in 1984. "They'll be wasting their time because we are not going to give way on the abatement," he said. Well we'll see Mr Osborne if you keep your word, and a response to Barroso; no, centralisation doesn't cut costs. Of course even though we don't want to pay these people more money/most of us want it to have less money or no money at all, we of course cannot remove the likes of José Barroso because he's unelected and thus unaccountable to the taxpayer. To borrow the famous phrase 'no taxation without representation'.
EU financial regulation backdown by Osborne + the rebate issue
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309904/Chancellor-George-Osborne-warns-EU-chiefs-Britains-5bn-rebate.html
George Osborne tonight warned EU chiefs to keep their hands off Britain's multi-billion-pound annual rebate. In a strongly-worded statement in Brussels, the Chancellor dismissed calls for Britain to give up the rebate, which was famously secured by Margaret Thatcher. Mr Osborne hinted that he would use the veto to block any attempt to claw back the rebate, saying that those pressing for the move were 'wasting their time'. His comments came as a rebuff to the EU budget chief Janusz Lewandowski who said this week that Britain's rebate had 'lost its original legitimacy'. Mr Osborne said the rebate remained fully justified and warned EU leaders there was no point in raising the issue during forthcoming negotiations on the EU budget.
He said: 'I have no doubt that there will be some others who will want to put it into the mix, but they'll be wasting their time because we are not going to give way on the abatement [rebate], and people had better know that at the beginning of the process, because they'll certainly discover it at the end.' Mr Osborne also took a dig at Tony Blair's controversial deal in 2005 when he gave up part of the rebate in return for a promise of reform of the EU's vast agricultural spending, which never happened.
The deal is thought to have cost Britain £9.3billion.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/07/article-1309904-0B0EF2C4000005DC-60_233x423.jpg
EU budget chief wants Britain to surrender its £5bn rebate
He said: 'We [the Coalition Government] are going to avoid a situation - entirely hypothetical - where a British prime minister at the last minute gives away a chunk of the rebate and that ends up costing British taxpayers billions of pounds, with the promise of Common Agricultural Policy reforms which never materialised.' The British rebate was worth £5billion last year and is forecast to be worth £3.25billion this year. It is paid because Britain gets relatively little back from the EU in spending on farming and regeneration projects. The Treasury says that the rebate is justified because without it Britain's net contributions to Brussels would be twice as high as France's and 50 per cent higher than those of Germany.
In a separate move, Mr Osborne agreed to EU plans to set up a new Europe-wide regulatory system for the banks, despite warnings that it could cause long-term damage to Britain's financial services sector. The Chancellor confirmed that London will be home to one of three new EU supervisory authorities being set up in the wake of the economic crisis to tighten surveillance of banking, insurance and securities markets.
The article here shows how Osborne has already fallen flat as the Conservatives only a few months ago were against EU interference in our financial sector, a sector which makes up 40 per cent of our GDP from what i've heard in the past. A 'rebate' for those who don't know is basically, you give me £1 every week and I am guranteed to give you back about 20p of every £1 I give you. Margaret Thatcher famously secured it and would have went further if it wasn't for the frothing-at-the-mouth euro-federalists in her cabinet. Tony Blair of course famously gave a big chunk of it away.
Good that it appears Osborn is holding firm, but judging by past records I wouldn't give it long.
Thoughts, should the EU be cutting back when we are all being made to cut back?
EU's ever-expanding budget needs expanding - again!
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01710/barroso_1710482c.jpg
More money please! - above: unelected EU Commission President, José Barroso
Speaking to MEPs, in an event billed as emulating the annual speech by the American president to US Congress, the European Commission President insisted that "a euro spent at European level gets you more than a euro spent at national level". "Pooling money at the European level allows member states to cut their costs, avoid overlaps and get a better return on their investment," he said.
Mr Barroso's intervention is timed to coincide with tough negotiations over future financing of the European Union (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/) as the Commission and European Parliament clash with Britain which is seeking to cut expenditure in Brussels. In a bid to escape national vetoes over spending, Mr Barroso proposed giving the EU the right to raise money by issuing bonds, a facility currently limited to "sovereign" nation states. "We should explore new sources of financing for major European infrastructure projects. For instance, I will propose the establishment of EU project bonds, together with the European Investment Bank," he said. So-called "Eurobonds" have been historically favoured by EU federalists keen to give the "union" more state-like powers by allowing it to get loans from bond markets. The idea is regarded with deep suspicion by national governments, including Germany and Britain, because of questions over who will take the responsibility for debt defaults or losses.
A spokesman for Mr Barroso said: "This is not about power, this is about raising finance." Syed Kamall, a Conservative MEP for London, said: "If Barroso gets his way the EU will have the power to raise its own taxes and sell debt. It is hard to say how this is anything but a big step towards a federal Europe. Governments should have the power to raise taxes and sell debt, not the EU."
During the "state of the union" debate, Nigel Farage, Ukip's European leader, told Mr Barroso that "there is one fundamental difference between you and US President Obama". "He, of course, is elected and you are not," he said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK5BlbLDnyg
George Osborne, the Chancellor was yesterday in Brussels for talks on Commission proposals on new EU rules to restrict national budgets in the wake of the Greek debt crisis earlier this year. He warned Mr Barroso and the Commission that he would not accept their plans to raise an extra £3 billion for EU budgets by axing a British rebate, negotiated by Baroness Thatcher in 1984. "They'll be wasting their time because we are not going to give way on the abatement," he said. Well we'll see Mr Osborne if you keep your word, and a response to Barroso; no, centralisation doesn't cut costs. Of course even though we don't want to pay these people more money/most of us want it to have less money or no money at all, we of course cannot remove the likes of José Barroso because he's unelected and thus unaccountable to the taxpayer. To borrow the famous phrase 'no taxation without representation'.
EU financial regulation backdown by Osborne + the rebate issue
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309904/Chancellor-George-Osborne-warns-EU-chiefs-Britains-5bn-rebate.html
George Osborne tonight warned EU chiefs to keep their hands off Britain's multi-billion-pound annual rebate. In a strongly-worded statement in Brussels, the Chancellor dismissed calls for Britain to give up the rebate, which was famously secured by Margaret Thatcher. Mr Osborne hinted that he would use the veto to block any attempt to claw back the rebate, saying that those pressing for the move were 'wasting their time'. His comments came as a rebuff to the EU budget chief Janusz Lewandowski who said this week that Britain's rebate had 'lost its original legitimacy'. Mr Osborne said the rebate remained fully justified and warned EU leaders there was no point in raising the issue during forthcoming negotiations on the EU budget.
He said: 'I have no doubt that there will be some others who will want to put it into the mix, but they'll be wasting their time because we are not going to give way on the abatement [rebate], and people had better know that at the beginning of the process, because they'll certainly discover it at the end.' Mr Osborne also took a dig at Tony Blair's controversial deal in 2005 when he gave up part of the rebate in return for a promise of reform of the EU's vast agricultural spending, which never happened.
The deal is thought to have cost Britain £9.3billion.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/07/article-1309904-0B0EF2C4000005DC-60_233x423.jpg
EU budget chief wants Britain to surrender its £5bn rebate
He said: 'We [the Coalition Government] are going to avoid a situation - entirely hypothetical - where a British prime minister at the last minute gives away a chunk of the rebate and that ends up costing British taxpayers billions of pounds, with the promise of Common Agricultural Policy reforms which never materialised.' The British rebate was worth £5billion last year and is forecast to be worth £3.25billion this year. It is paid because Britain gets relatively little back from the EU in spending on farming and regeneration projects. The Treasury says that the rebate is justified because without it Britain's net contributions to Brussels would be twice as high as France's and 50 per cent higher than those of Germany.
In a separate move, Mr Osborne agreed to EU plans to set up a new Europe-wide regulatory system for the banks, despite warnings that it could cause long-term damage to Britain's financial services sector. The Chancellor confirmed that London will be home to one of three new EU supervisory authorities being set up in the wake of the economic crisis to tighten surveillance of banking, insurance and securities markets.
The article here shows how Osborne has already fallen flat as the Conservatives only a few months ago were against EU interference in our financial sector, a sector which makes up 40 per cent of our GDP from what i've heard in the past. A 'rebate' for those who don't know is basically, you give me £1 every week and I am guranteed to give you back about 20p of every £1 I give you. Margaret Thatcher famously secured it and would have went further if it wasn't for the frothing-at-the-mouth euro-federalists in her cabinet. Tony Blair of course famously gave a big chunk of it away.
Good that it appears Osborn is holding firm, but judging by past records I wouldn't give it long.
Thoughts, should the EU be cutting back when we are all being made to cut back?