EU demands an extra £5m a day

[Churchill]

This is beginning to feel like one of these sci-fi stories where an assassin is sent back from the future to take out a politician before he can cause irrecoverable damage (where are these time-travelling assassins when you need one ?)

Threaded has a time machine!

[PM-Junkie]

Hopefully, Mr T B Liar will indeed be made el Presidente and will try to do to the EU what he did to Britain. At the very least, if he is made el Presidente the people of Britain should finally cotton on to exactly what the EU is now, and our days of being a member and helping to finance the damn thing will be numbered.

One thing that is already changing is that, after witnessing the EU's attitude to votes that don't follow doctrine, other people are developing a loathing for the EU. My suspicion is that they dropped a huge one by ignoring the Irish vote and forcing them to vote again after giving them a few sweeteners. After that little trick, people are starting to wake up at last....

[RichardCranium]

After that little trick, people are starting to wake up at last....

Your faith in humanity does you much credit, sir.

[swamp]

One thing that is already changing is that, after witnessing the EU's attitude to votes that don't follow doctrine, other people are developing a loathing for the EU. My suspicion is that they dropped a huge one by ignoring the Irish vote and forcing them to vote again after giving them a few sweeteners. After that little trick, people are starting to wake up at last....

The EU has so far been about faceless bureaucrats dealing with farm quotas and road building handouts. Lots of expenses, and a bit corrupt, but Mostly Harmless...

However they are not far away from being quite powerful, and when they do get to flex their muscles there will be no stopping them.

[DodgyAgent]

The EU has so far been about faceless bureaucrats dealing with farm quotas and road building handouts. Lots of expenses, and a bit corrupt, but Mostly Harmless...

However they are not far away from being quite powerful, and when they do get to flex their muscles there will be no stopping them.

totally

[threaded]

The EU has so far been about faceless bureaucrats dealing with farm quotas and road building handouts. Lots of expenses, and a bit corrupt, but Mostly Harmless...

However they are not far away from being quite powerful, and when they do get to flex their muscles there will be no stopping them.

Yes, do remember that once the treaty is in place you won't be allowed to make criticisms of the EU. It'll be a criminal offence. Yes, that's in the treaty.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Yes, do remember that once the treaty is in place you won't be allowed to make criticisms of the EU. It'll be a criminal offence. Yes, that's in the treaty.

Like most things in the treaty, it is actually already in force. European Court of Justice, 2001:

The ruling stated that the [European] commission could restrict dissent in order to "protect the rights of others" and punish individuals who "damaged the institution's image and reputation".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ism-of-EU.html

[BlasterBates]

...and as you notice it isn't a criminal offence, in other words you can be sacked from the commission. I sometimes wonder whether the UK press live in their very own EU, you know the one where Euro fell apart, and EU rebels are in dungeons in for having non-EU conform sausages at home.

[darmstadt]

Blair won't become President if Europe have their way:

Barroso repeats that he has an obligation to ensure "gender proportionality" on his commission. Then the men switch subjects. Barroso wants to know how Austria feels about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Will Vienna support his bid for the new high-profile position of EU president? No, says Pröll, he will most certainly not be voting for Blair. This is music to Barroso's ears.
A few days later, Belgium Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy asks Austrian Chancellor Faymann the same question. He too is assured that the Alpine republic will join forces with Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands to prevent Blair from becoming "Mr. Europe." But the question of who else could do the job is left unanswered. A few names are mentioned -- and are promptly discarded.

Several, mostly smaller countries have already agreed that Blair is not an option. They argue that he split Europe into two camps in the run-up to the Iraq War. And a politician is "not particularly big," says one Blair opponent, "just because he failed in a particularly big way."
There is also open resistance to Blair within the European Parliament. Several key MEPs representing Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the parliament have signed an "anti-Blair petition" -- something they are hardly likely to have done without checking with their party leadership first.

[TimberWolf]

...a politician is "not particularly big just because he failed in a particularly big way."