Brussels in extraordinary bid to tax Britons directly with EU-wide taxes

[GommeInc]

i'm not sure you quite understand what an EU institution is. their aims are not to create jobs but to carry out the functions of the european union, like the commission, the ECJ, the various research facilities, etc etc. The EU does not spend much money on infrastructure in the UK because although not the best, is much better than the east - which requires some heavy investment to improve the economy round there. I don't think the EU has ever really suggested that. And yes, that is the sort of job that he has - the president of the european council which i believe you are talking about (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preside...ropean_Council) is meant to be 'the man that overseas heads of state call' but in effect his only official job is to plan and head the european council (only one part of the EU, there are presidents of the commission and parliament)

From what I can tell, the President's duty is unlikely to be undertaken by him :/ So yes, just a pretty poster who could die, be assassinated (waste of time if anyone tried that anyway ) and little care would be given as he really doesn't do anything. A person in his position of administrating the commission would be undertaken by many people. DO they really need someone to say "yes" or "no" when the result will no doubt be a foregone conclusion? No wonder people see the EU as a mess :S Do these under-privileged countries to the east of Europe have to pay to be in the EU? It looks like they're falling for a dangled carrot - they feel they have to join to gain benefits, but no doubt when they get these benefits they have to start paying for them with more money than they ought to :/

[alexxxxx]

From what I can tell, the President's duty is unlikely to be undertaken by him :/ So yes, just a pretty poster who could die, be assassinated (waste of time if anyone tried that anyway ) and little care would be given as he really doesn't do anything. A person in his position of administrating the commission would be undertaken by many people. DO they really need someone to say "yes" or "no" when the result will no doubt be a foregone conclusion? No wonder people see the EU as a mess :S Do these under-privileged countries to the east of Europe have to pay to be in the EU? It looks like they're falling for a dangled carrot - they feel they have to join to gain benefits, but no doubt when they get these benefits they have to start paying for them with more money than they ought to :/

He does not administer the european commission. that is a completely different EU institution (each commissioner in the EU commission is from a different EU state). The commission are responsible for proposing legislation and running the EU (ie distributing money, investigating, research etc). The president of the COMMISSION is José Manuel Barroso.

The European Council (ie where the heads of government of the different EU states come together and talk about the EU and drive where it goes and what it does.) The president of this is Herman Van Rompuy, incorrectly called 'the president of the EU' by UK press.

Confusingly there is another institution called The Council Of The European Union which is where the ministers of particular areas meet to vote and discuss on particular issues to do with their area, these areas are for example transport or health and they vote on things passed to them from the commission or parliament. The presidency of this institution rotates regularly to different countries.

The European Parliament is the body which is directly elected by the people of Europe. They have to approve the commission's make-up and sack it. It can change and vote on laws etc and sorts out the budget - but cannot formally propose legislation. The commission president and both council's president come into the parliament to hear what parliament has to say. The parliament has a president called Jerzy Buzek.

The Eastern European countries generally pay in less than they get back in funding at the moment yes and in the future when these areas have sufficiently developed, funding focuses might change elsewhere and they might not get back all they put in.