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Nigel Farage: Escape Euro Prison!
December 10th 2011
Final attempt to save Eurozone?
The Eurozone crisis seems to be spiraling out of control. In an attempt to try to control the downward spiral in the Eurozone, President Obama met with the members of the EU to try to come up with a solution to the failing Euro. Three counties have already been bailed out and now Italy and Spain may be next in line. Will the Eurozone's collapse affect the global economy? Lauren Lyster, host of Capital Account, joins us to analayze the situation.
November 30th 2011
Europe plan to 'green' public buildings to cost £50bn
Taxpayers will have to pay billions of pounds a year equipping council houses, town halls, hospitals and other public buildings with the latest green technology, under new proposals by the European Commission.
Local authorities and other public bodies, already struggling with spending cuts, will be obliged to fit schools, swimming pools and libraries, with state-of-the-art insulation, boilers, generators and windows.
Councils say the plan as it affects them alone would cost taxpayers up to £50bn.
November 29th 2011
EU Slavery: Media hiding truth about debt crisis
November 28th 2011
EU's unemployed youth threatened by social exclusion
Young people have the highest unemployment rate in the EU, an average of 20 percent. That's twice the percentage seen in the whole working population. In some countries, like Spain and Greece, that figure reaches about 40 percent. These numbers threaten to marginalize Europe's young people. Officials and experts delivered this message in Brussels.
November 20th 2011
Eurozone crisis: who is pulling the strings in Europe?
It has been dubbed Europe's Politburo: a "self-appointed body of powerful individuals prepared to topple national governments if they fail to toe the line."
The so-called Groupe de Francfort came together last month at a party for the retiring chief of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet.
They met four times at the margins of the G20 summit - and marked themselves out by sporting GdF lapel badges. But who are the "Groupe de Francfort"?
November 12th 2011
Out Of The Ashes Of The Collapse Of The Eurozone Will A “United States Of Europe” Arise?
 All over Europe, headlines are declaring that the eurozone is on the verge of collapse. Many people falsely assume that this will mean the end of the euro and a return to national currencies. Unfortunately, that is not going to be the case at all. Instead, this is going to be yet another example of how the elite attempt to bring order out of chaos. The European elite have no intention on giving up on a united Europe. Rather, they hope to be able to bring to life a new "United States of Europe" out of the ashes of the existing eurozone. Over the coming months we will see widespread panic and fear all across Europe. The euro will likely sink like a rock and there will probably be huge financial problems in Europe and all around the globe. But for the European elite, a great crisis like this represents a golden opportunity to tear down the existing structures and build new ones. The solution that the European elite will be pushing will not be to go back to the way that Europe used to be. Instead, they will be pushing the idea of a much more tightly integrated Europe really hard.
November 13th 2011
Europe’s Politburo
At the G20 summit in Cannes at the weekend, a small number of delegates could be seen sporting lapel badges announcing their membership of the Groupe de Francfort (GdF). This has become the informal leadership body of the eurozone, the A-team set up to deal with the crisis – or rather to continue dithering over what to do about it. Members of the GdF include Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.
The group also comprises the chiefs of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the EU Council. It has been called Europe’s Politburo – and the nickname is particularly apposite. For if the European Union has exhibited one defining characteristic over its lifetime, it has been a profound dislike of democratic decision-making. The GdF is something that would have been familiar in the old Soviet Union – a self-appointed body of powerful individuals prepared to topple national governments if they fail to toe the line. The GdF met four times on the sidelines of the Cannes summit, issuing ultimatums to Greece and Italy that have destabilised the administrations in both countries.
November 10th 2011
50% OF TORY MPS WANT BRITAIN TO LEAVE THE EU
More than 150 – nearly twice as many as those who voted for a referendum last week – want the UK to free itself from the shackles of Brussels interference.
Conservative rebel Mark Reckless claimed as many as half of the 306-strong Parliamentary party were in favour of total withdrawal.
He said the proportion was “probably quite similar to the country as a whole”, citing a recent YouGov poll that claimed 52 per cent of people want to come out of Europe and only 31 per cent want to stay in.
His comments come amid fresh demands for an EU vote after Greece announced it was to hold a plebiscite on a new European bailout.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said he wants voters to decide in a referendum if they want the 100 billion euro handout.
November 2th 2011
This was the week that European democracy died
By Janet Daley
Democracy went down in a blaze of glory last week. Both the German Bundestag and our own House of Commons put up one hell of a fight against the dying of the light. Maybe history will record that fact in an elegy on the demise of the great 18th-century experiment in government by the people: they were eloquent to the end. Because at the end, eloquence was all they had.
Trying to hold back the resurgence of oligarchy – the final dismantling of democratic responsibility in the governing of Europe – has been looking pretty hopeless for a long time. That eruption of excellent rhetoric and faultless argument which sprang to the defence of the rights of the governed (and in Germany’s case, of constitutional legality) made the loss seem all the more tragic, but no less inevitable
November 1th 2011
The proposal, put forward by Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, would be the clearest sign yet of a new “United States of Europe” — with Britain left on the sidelines.
The plan comes as European governments desperately trying to save the euro from collapse last night faced a new bombshell, with sources at the International Monetary Fund saying it would not pay for a second Greek bail-out.
It was also disclosed last night that British businesses are turning their back on Brussels regulations to give temporary workers full employment rights, with supermarket chain Tesco leading the charge.
Meanwhile, David Cameron is attempting to face down a rebellion tomorrow by Tory MPs in a vote over staging a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
Scandal the European parliament tried to keep secret
The European Parliament’s £1.5 billion budget is beset by the abuse of staff perks and expenses, nepotism and the wasting of taxpayers’ money, according to secret internal audits obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
A series of reports by the parliament’s internal auditor found that significant breaches of the rules were common among the 7,000 unelected officials who work for the EU’s assembly.
Staff are allowed to authorise their own expenses and pay allowances to family members, despite the auditor warning of the risk of “conflicts of interest”.
The reports, covering three years, identify instances of officials being given double payments or allowances to which they are not entitled.
Officials are failing to secure the best value for money for taxpayers when awarding contracts, while extensive funds are being given to the assembly’s political parties without any proper audit of how it is being spent, according to the reports.
October 21th 2011
A Coup in the European Union?
by SUSAN GEORGE
European Union workers’ pretentions to better pay and working conditions, shorter working lives, munificent retirement benefits, long holidays and time off for this and that have got to be brought under control! Enough is enough!
Let us be thankful that the European Commission has the answers. Soon the neoliberal model will become irreversible and all these pretentious upstarts will have to shut up once and for all. High time too. In a brilliant move, the Commission has pushed through a bundle of measures called the “six-pack”—a cheerful name suggesting parties where the beer flows freely. This bundle is rather more austere and will give the Commission hitherto unheard-of leverage in the affairs of its member States.
By a close vote on 28 September 2011, the European Parliament passed the Commission’s plan—a far-reaching takeover of individual countries’ capacity to set their own budgets and to manage their own sovereign debts. From now on, the Parliament and the Council (with the Commission naturally overseeing the process) will be able to force governments to comply with the Maastricht Treaty recommendations—otherwise known as the “Stability and Growth Pact”–to which member States had recently paid precious little attention. After 2005 this Pact seemed almost a quaint relic. But now, thanks to the six-pack, no deficits greater than 3% and no national debts above 60% of GDP will be countenanced. What these people need is stern discipline, make no mistake
Why the euro bailout is the biggest Ponzi scheme in history
The European Central Bank, led by President Jean-Claude Trichet (pictured), is already in a parlous
state with a weak balance sheet
The recent decision by the Bank of England to pump another £75billion into the economy shows that Britain, far from recovering, remains on the edge of another dip.
But what happens to the British and world economy is, to a large extent, out of our hands. The greatest threat to our economic future is what is happening in the eurozone.
The scale of the euro crisis has made one thing abundantly plain: Europe, Britain and the rest of the world would be better off if the euro had never happened. It would be preferable if it were now dismantled in an orderly manner.
October 13th 2011
France and Germany set for crisis talks on eurozone banks
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, will meet in Berlin on Sunday to debate whether a government must empty its pockets to prop up its country's struggling banks, or if the euro region's shared rescue fund can be deployed outside a full-blown emergency.
Amid reports of division between the two powerhouse economies, Fitch downgraded Italy's sovereign credit rating by one notch to A+ from AA- and cut Spain's by two rungs, to AA- from AA+, citing a worsening of the eurozone's debt crisis. "A credible and comprehensive solution ... is politically and technically complex and will take time to put in place," it warned.
British Prime Minister: We’ll stay in EU, not for the people to decide
David Cameron and William Hague have today said they have no wish to hold a referendum on Europe as MPs are set to discuss whether there should be one.
In a move that will dismay the right of the Tory party set to gather in Manchester their leadership says withdrawal from the EU ‘would be bad for Britain’.
It was revealed today MPs are set to vote on a referendum before Christmas after a petition with more than 100,000 signatures was submitted calling for the public to be given the chance to decide whether Britain should stay in the EU.
The EU dream has turned into a nightmare
It was hard to know – as the danse macabre of the euro spirals towards its devastating denouement – which of last week’s utterances and events was the maddest. First, there was the speech by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, in which, after admitting that this was the worst crisis the EU had ever faced, he renewed his wish for it to impose a tax on “financial transactions”, to provide Brussels with what has been estimated by Open Europe, the independent think tank, at up to £70 billion a year.
EU given six weeks to protect itself against 'inevitable Greek default'
European Union governments will spend the next six weeks building a financial firewall to protect their fragile banking systems against what is now seen as an inevitable Greek default.
G20 sources said that up to 50% was likely to be wiped from the face value of Greece's €350bn debt – but not until Europe had put into place a war chest to prevent the contagion spreading.
More money will be disbursed by the International Monetary Fund and the EU next month to keep the Greek government afloat, but this is seen as a short-term fix while Europe's leaders beef up the eurozone bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
Europe’s problem is that no one knows who’s in charge
When the euro began, it proved difficult to agree on the design of the banknotes. In the end, its founders settled on pictures of bridges. British pound notes signify the national bank’s quantity of money (originally a weight of sterling silver) under the authority of the sovereign (the Queen). Euro notes are much vaguer. They express an aspiration. Those bridges represent man’s attempt to link what is naturally separate.
Now the bridges are cracking, and it turns out that it isn’t really anyone’s job to pin them together. Something called the troika – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – is handling the crisis, but the very fact that these three entities have to be triple-yoked indicates the problem. The only power that actually might be able to do something is Germany, and it seems paralysed.
A Look At Europe’s New Right
Faye has emerged as the leading voice of Europe’s ‘New Right’ (Nouvelle Droite) as he departs further afield from his mentor Alain de Benoist as well as from Dieter Stein, publisher of Junge Freiheit (Young Freedom).
Guillame Faye’s Why We Fight indeed moves beyond the theories of de Benoist’s ground breaking year-2000 Manifesto For The New Right. For while Faye gives credit to his mentor’s philosophy his main concern is with on-the-groundstrategic activism in finding a solution to Europe’s multiracial immigration problem.
Sorry, I was wrong!
""In this extraordinary recantation, Max Hastings, pro-European all his adult life, admits the EU is now a disaster which is blighting every aspect of British life - and crippling our recovery""
The eurozone is merely the most conspicuous symptom of failure. It reflects a historic policy blunder by the rich, prudent nations that linked themselves in a suicidal currency pact with the non-serious countries of Europe, Greece and Ireland foremost among them.
Even the staunchly pro-European Economist magazine admitted last week that ‘the debt crisis is exposing problems in the basic design of the European Union’; that the eurozone faces a stark choice between break-up and fiscal integration, against the strong wishes of its solvent members’ voters.
Make No Mistake–Europe is in Big Trouble
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said yesterday that European states “are going to have to do more” to solve their enormous debt troubles. To that I ask, “more” of what? That can only be “more” money printing. Mark my words, more debt and fiat currency will be the ultimate answer to the European debt problem. It is either that or let the banks and some countries in Europe go under. If Greece was the only country to default and leave the EU, then that would not be all that bad. The real problem is all the other heavily indebted countries that are levels of magnitude more of a problem than little Greece. France24.com reported yesterday, “The Eurozone crisis could wreck the European Union, top EU officials warned on Wednesday as the leaders of Germany and France held talks with Greece to avoid a default and widespread chaos. The pressure rose on all fronts with United States again expressing great concern, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner saying European states “now recognize they are going to have to do more” to resolve to the crisis. Highlighting the threat to the global economy, Geithner is to exceptionally attend talks between European Union finance ministers and central bankers in Poland on Friday.
David Cameron was branded an EU ‘enthusiast’ by Tory Eurosceptics last night as he said Britain must let eurozone countries move towards a United States of Europe with a common economic policy.
The Prime Minister admitted he was not sure whether Germany and other countries had the political will to prevent a break-up of the single currency, but insisted they must be allowed to try – even if that meant closer integration.
The tumult on global financial markets intensified yesterday ahead of a crunch ruling by the German constitutional court on the legality of bailouts for debt-crippled nations.
In a cannon shot across Europe’s bows, he warned that Germany is reaching bailout exhaustion and cannot allow its own democracy to be undermined by EU mayhem.
“I regard the huge buy-up of bonds of individual states by the ECB as legally and politically questionable. Article 123 of the Treaty on the EU’s workings prohibits the ECB from directly purchasing debt instruments, in order to safeguard the central bank’s independence,” he said.
“This prohibition only makes sense if those responsible do not get around it by making substantial purchases on the secondary market,” he said, speaking at a forum of half the world’s Nobel economists on Lake Constance to review the errors of the profession over recent years.
The Greek crisis brings us even closer to the long-planned European empire
That would be to misunderstand the grand strategy being pursued in Brussels. It is designed to achieve, without recourse to war, the realization of a dream unfulfilled since the fall of Rome, the first pan-European Empire. Spain, France and Austro Hungary failed in their attempts to build such an Empire and after yet another destructive European war, the founding fathers of the EU swore to achieve through politics what warfare had failed to deliver.
The creation of a common, or to be correct, sole currency, the euro, was not an end in itself, but a weapon to achieve by economic means, a European government. It was about politics, not economics.
June 25th 2011
EU Presidents at war: Van Rompuy and Barroso fly to same destinationin separate jets
A feud between two of the European Union's leaders was exposed yesterday as the two men travelled in separate VIP jets on the same morning to the EU-Russia summit destination in Russia.
 Rivalry between the EU president Herman Van Rompuy and the European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, whose title is also president, over who is Europe's true leader on the world stage meant that the pair and their entourages, would not share one aircraft.
Mr Van Rompuy, Belgium's former prime minister before he took the EU post, did not offer Mr Barroso space on an aircraft supplied to him by the Belgian air force at cheap rates.
Instead, Mr Barroso was forced to charter a 15-seater plane, said to be a Learjet, at high commercial rates to carry himself, Baroness Ashton, the EU's trade commissioner and a group of officials to Russia.
Air Charter Service, a London based company, estimated the cost of Mr Barroso's Brussels to Russia air taxi would be between £50,000 and £70,000.
June 11th 201
The European Commission has spent more than £8 million on private jet travel, luxury holiday resorts and cocktail parties, an investigation has disclosed.
 Commissioners travelled in limousines, stayed in five star hotels and splashed out on lavish gifts including Tiffany jewellery as their member states faced savage budget cuts and rising EU taxes.
An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism into spending by the EU executive has shown that more than €7.5m (£6.6m) was spent on private jet travel for commissioners between 2006 and 2010.
Baroness Ashton, the British EU foreign minister, came under fire when it was reported that she had demanded her own private jet less than 100 days into her new role in March last year.
Tens of thousands more was spent accommodating commissioners at luxury five star resorts in exotic locations such as Papua New Guinea, Ghana and Vietnam, the spending figures show.
June 2th 2011
 We hope all of our appearances on Greek TV, radio and in the press have helped the educational process and to allow the Greeks to identify who the real culprits are, and what to do about it. It has just been over a year since this tragedy became reality, but we reported on Greece and Italy ten years ago. They both bent the rules to enter the euro zone. We knew then that Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase were assisting them by creating credit default swaps. There were a few European journalist who reported on the issue, but the elitists control the media and few noticed that Greece and Italy were beyond bogus.
The events of the past year remind us of the onslaught of the credit crisis, which unfortunately is still with us. What finally brought about trouble for Greece and other euro zone countries was the zero interest rate policy of the Fed and slightly higher rates by the EC. These policies encouraged speculation and caused problems that would have never happened otherwise. In addition, the stimulus measures by both banks were embarked upon to save the financial sectors and in that process promote speculation by the people who caused thee problems in the first place. That began with QE1 and stimulus 1, which we now recognize as our inflation drivers. Wait until QE2 and stimulus 2 appear next year. It will be very shocking.
June 1th 2011
 Tata Steel announced the redundancies at its Scunthorpe and Teesside plants, blaming climate change legislation required by Brussels and the UK’s new Climate Change Act.The prospect of higher energy costs aimed at reducing carbon emissions by imposing limits would push the price of British steel to uncompetitive levels.
Karl-Ulrich Köhler, head of European operations for Tata, Britain’s largest steelmaker, said: “EU carbon legislation threatens to impose huge additional costs on the steel industry.
“Besides, there remains a great deal of uncertainty about the level of further unilateral carbon cost rises the UK Government is planning. These measures risk undermining our competitiveness and we must make ourselves stronger in preparation for them.”
Godfrey Bloom, MEP for Scunthorpe and Ukip’s business spokesman, said: “The mad drive to Islington-friendly green enery is driving jobs out of the north. You cannot pile billions of pounds of extra costs on industry without a price being paid.
“That price is the livelihoods of steel workers. The Government and the EU are dangerous, damaging and deluded if they think that throwing people on to the scrapheap of unemployment will effect the sea level in Fiji.”
The EU seeks UN recognition as a state
May 20th 2011
CENSORED European Commission simply don't trust the UK Government to protect people's health
April 22th 2011
The EU Crackup
 Political upheaval has hit Finland, and it’s merely a foreshadowing of bigger changes ahead. The core issue is whether Finland ought to be paying for bailouts for other EU states. In reaction to establishment support for the bailout, voters ousted the pro-bailout ruling party and gave an upset victory to the bailout-critical conservative party. Against every expectation, the eternal rule of the social democrats is at an end.
But most striking of all are the gains made by a previously invisible party called True Finns. This is the only party to take a hardcore position: no bailouts at all. It also so happens that this party is predictably nationalist on issues of trade and immigration. But that’s not the source of the appeal. The bailout is what is on everyone’s mind. And you know that the anger must be palpable if it fired up the usually sleepy world of Finnish politics.
April 20th 2011
NEW EU PLOT TO TAX OUR FOOD
THE threat of a double tax raid on millions of Britons by the European Union caused uproar last night.
 Business leaders condemned moves by Brussels to seize control of VAT on thousands of everyday items.
It could send prices soaring – and even allow the EU to decide whether to slap VAT on essential foods and children’s clothes.
In a second money-grabbing proposal, the European Commission yesterday announced plans to overhaul “green” fuel tax, which could mean a new eight per cent duty on diesel.
The Daily Express is campaigning to free Britain from EU rule, and 373,000 readers backed a petition delivered to Downing Street on the issue. There was outrage last night at the latest EU bid to squeeze more cash from British taxpayers.
Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: “Let’s hope that Chancellor George Osborne is a bit more vigorous in stopping this initiative than he was when allowing the UK to join the euro bail-outs.
April 15th 2011
'The sooner Euro flops the better'
Portugal has announced that it's unable to deal with its economic crisis and has asked for help. The Eurozone is now set to cough up for a third successive bail-out package, which is set to exceed 100 billion dollars. RT talks to Jon Gaunt, of the EU referendum campaign.
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April 9th 2011|
EU Secretly Authorizes Emergency Order Allowing Large Increase Of Radiation In Food
 Kopp Online, Xander News and other non-English news agencies are reporting that the EU implemented a secret “emergency” order without informing the public which increases ed the amount of radiation in food by up to 20 times previous food standards.
According to EU bylaws radiation limits may be raised during a nuclear emergency to prevent food shortages, but there is anger across Europe. Foodwatch is quoted “These rules now to bring into force is absurd, because in Europe there are no nuclear emergency, and certainly no shortage of food”.
April 4th 2011|
NEW EU ANTI-TERRORIST BODY WILL BE ‘LIKE THE KGB’
SENIOR Eurocrats are plotting to set up a new European Union counter-terrorism agency that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.
 And critics warned last night the body could turn into a Europe-wide secret police force that would be “like the KGB”.
The move is also likely to infuriate MI5 and MI6 chiefs as British spies could be forced to share intelligence with European agents.
EU counter-terrorism director Olivier Luyckx envisages the new organisation working alongside the EU’s vast new diplomatic corps, headed by foreign affairs supremo Baroness Cathy Ashton.
He raised the proposal in the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this week.
Mr Luyckx called for a series of existing EU security agencies including Europol, Eurojust, Cosi, Frontex and Cepol to be pulled together in one body with sweeping powers.
April 3th 2011|
Will Financial Problems In Portugal Cause The European Debt Crisis To Spiral Out Of Control?
 Most Americans have no idea just how bad the financial problems over in Europe are right now. The truth is that the entire European financial system is teetering on the brink of disaster. Ireland and Greece have already received bailouts and Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Belgium are all drowning in an ocean of unsustainable debt. Sovereign credit ratings all over Europe have being slashed in recent months. For example, a while back Moody’s Investors Service cut Ireland's bond rating by five levels. Up until now Europe has weathered all of this financial instability fairly well, but now huge new financial problems in Portugal threaten to send the European debt crisis spinning out of control.
March 27th 2011
EU Media Manipulation
March 20th 2011
Euro crisis is far from over – what the experts are saying
 The euro hit an intraday low against the dollar of $1.3791 and traders warned it could fall further in coming days due to market concerns that Friday's 17-nation meeting and a summit of the full 27-nation European Union on March 24-25 may fail to agree on decisive action to tackle the debt crisis.
"If officials make no progress and Germans remain unwavering in their demands, the likelihood of a capitulation (in the euro) will be significantly higher," said Jessica Hoversen, currency strategist at MF Global in Chicago.
She said that hawkish rhetoric from the European Central Bank was adding to investor concern. "The ECB's disregard for economic variances may be the tragic flaw that drags the currency lower," she said, adding that the compromise of $1.3862, the February 2011 high, opened downside potential.
March 12th 2011|
Cloned Meat: EU Consumers shall have no choice
 Munich, Bruxelles -- A non-public EU Commission paper confirms that food from offsprings of cloned animals are already on the European market. The animals get into the market via the import of breeding material from the US. The EU Trade Commission argues that in future too these products should not be regulated, labelled or controlled for unexpected risks, because so far no systems have been established for registering the animals in exporting countries such as the US. If the EU Commission succeeds, consumers within the EU will not get any information about these products like milk and meat, despite a high level of consumer rejection of cloning of animals for food production.
March 7th 2011|
UK ‘FACES £7.5BNEU FINE OVER DEBTS’
EUROPEAN Union chiefs could get powers to slap fines running into billions of pounds on Britain and other member nations under plans put forward by Euro-MPs yesterday.
In a move that raised fears of even more British taxpayers’ cash being grabbed by Brussels, the European Parliament discussed a huge hike in the penalties for alleged financial irregularities. Supporters of the plan want countries who flout financial directives from the European Commission to be hit with fines equivalent to a maximum of 0.5 per cent of their national output.
February 5th 2011|
Climate change no longer scares Europe
 The fight against the delusion of dangerous man-made global warming remains an uphill struggle. For decades, the climate debate has been obfuscated by cherry-picking, spin-doctoring and scaremongering by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other climate alarmists, including the environmental movement and mainstream media. Their massive campaign to overstate the threat of man-made warming has left its imprint on public opinion.
But the tide seems to be turning. The Climate Conference fiasco in Copenhagen, the Climategate scandal and stabilization of worldwide temperatures since 1995 have given rise to growing doubts about the putative threat of "dangerous global warming" or "global climate disruption." Indeed, even Phil Jones, director of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit and one of the main players in Climategate, now acknowledges that there has been no measurable warming since 1995 despite steadily rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.
January 17th 2011
France and Germany veto increase in EU rescue fund
 Jose Barroso, head of the European Commission, called on EU leaders to boost the firepower of the EU's €440bn (£366bn) bail-out fund and beef up its role, allowing it to intervene with pre-emptive bond purchases to help states under threat.
"It is important for the markets to know that Eurozone leaders are committed to do whatever is necessary," he said, hoping for action as soon as early February.
He also proposed a "new phase of European integration" with far-reaching oversight of the budgets, pensions, labour markets, and trade flows of EU states to prevent a recurrence of the imbalances that led to the EMU debt crisis.
Mr Barroso said the fund boost was a "precautionary" move, not directed at any one country. The gambit is risky since it may be taken by investors as a sign that Brussels fears imminent contagion to Spain, deemed too big for the current fund.
January 14th 2011
Euro stands just 20pc chance of survival in next decade
 In its annual list of predictions, the CEBR said a new eurozone crisis was its number one forecast for 2011, citing the hundreds of billions of euros of debt that members must replace this year.
"If the euro doesn't break up, this could be the year when it weakens substantially towards parity with the dollar," said Douglas Williams, chief executive of CEBR.
Spain and Italy alone must refinance more than €400bn (£343bn) of debt in the first half of the year, which could prove impossible given investor fears over the finances of southern European countries.
"The euro might break up at this point, though European politicians are normally able to respond to a crisis and I suspect that what will break up the euro will be the failure of most of the countries to take the tough medicine necessary to make their economies competitive over the longer term," said Mr Douglas.
January 3th 2011
LIVING STANDARDS MUST FALL BY 15% TO SAVE THE EURO
 It is possible that the eurozone may not even survive next year according to the Centre for Economic and Business Research.
Chief executive Douglas McWilliams said the euro has an 80 per cent chance of failing in its present form in the next 10 years.
He said living standards would have to fall by about 15 per cent in the weaker economies and Government spending slashed if the single currency was to survive.
Mr McWilliams added: “There is no modern history of falling living standards in peacetime on the scale necessary to keep the euro in its current form.
“Indeed the scale of the cuts necessary was only just achieved in wartime. That is why I think there is at best a one-in-five chance the euro will survive as it is.”
The CEBR warned that the financial problems which have crippled Greece and Ireland will spread to other European countries mired in debt.
In a report released today, they say there could be another eurozone crisis in the spring – “if not before” – with Spain and Italy in the firing line.
Mr McWilliams argued that in order for the currency to survive as it is German growth needed to be sustained at more than three per cent for the next four years.
January 1th 2011
'Europe protests justified, demands in streets key to mankind's future'
December 30h 2010
HALF OF GERMANS WANT TO AXE THE EURO
 The recent crises in Greece and Ireland have contributed to further disillusion.
In the survey for the daily Bild newspaper, only 41 per cent of people were satisfied with the euro. Most of the rest said they did not know what to think.
The survey found that the majority of Germans are worried about the stability of the currency and the possibility of inflation.
Three-quarters of the people questioned by YouGov said they personally had not profited from the adoption of the euro.
And if Germany was not part of the eurozone, only 30 per cent of those asked would today vote to adopt the euro and 60 per cent would vote against it.
December 29h 2010
Europe: The New Plan
Europe is on the cusp of change. An EU heads-of-state summit Dec. 16 launched a process aimed to save the common European currency. If successful, this process would be the most significant step toward creating a singular European power since the creation of the European Union itself in 1992 — that is, if it doesn’t destroy the euro first.
Envisioned by the EU Treaty on Monetary Union, the common currency, the euro, has suffered from two core problems during its decade-long existence: the lack of a parallel political union and the issue of debt. Many in the financial world believe that what is required for a viable currency is a fiscal union that has taxation power — and that is indeed needed. But that misses the larger point of who would be in charge of the fiscal union. Taxation and appropriation — who pays how much to whom — are essentially political acts. One cannot have a centralized fiscal authority without first having a centralized political/military authority capable of imposing and enforcing its will. Greeks are not going to implement a German-designed tax and appropriations system simply because Berlin thinks it’s a good idea. As much as financiers might like to believe, the checkbook is not the ultimate power in the galaxy. The ultimate power comes from the law backed by a gun
December 21th 2010
WikiLeaks: Angela Merkel only leader man enough to 'rule' Europe
 Detailed American assessments of the German Chancellor and her coalition governments, first with the Social Democrats and then after Sep 2009 the liberal FDP, portray a leader who only stands out because of the low quality of other European heads of government.
"Angela Merkel's role as Germany's and Europe's leader is undisputed. No other leader of a large member state is politically fit enough to offer himself up as a leader," noted a confidential cable in April 2007.
"However, she is conscious that her strength derives largely from the weakness of her counterparts and other factors beyond her control."
The Wikileaks diplomatic documents spell out how Chancellor Merkel used negotiations over the Lisbon Treaty to assert "German and her personal leadership" over the EU during a period when Tony Blair was handing over power to Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy was not yet French President
December 20th 2010
EU leaders commit to bail-out fund
 European heads of government vowed on Friday that the eurozone's bail-out fund would always have enough financial wherewithal to rescue any faltering country, but the leaders stopped short of saying they would increase its size.
The promise, contained in their summit communiqué after two days of meetings, was the most explicit commitment to date by European Union leaders about their willingness to back a bail-out of even larger eurozone economies such as Spain and Italy, should those countries get cut off from the financial markets.
But their unwillingness to enlarge the fund, which had been proposed by some EU finance ministers, was a sign that they believed setting a new, higher limit would only lead bond traders to assume EU leaders believed a Spanish or Italian bail-out was inevitable.
The commitment came on the same day Moody's cut Ireland's credit rating five levels and said the outlook for Irish debt was "negative". The downgrade was expected following last month's €85 billion ($112 billion) Irish bail-out, but the severity of cut was more than anticipated. .
December 18th 2010
EU in Flames of Uprising: Athens, Rome, London - Who's Next?
December 17th 2010
'EU price tag $76 million a day - should we stay or should we go?'
December 14th 2010
Insanity: US Ready to Back EU Bailout
 The United States would be ready to support the extension of the European Financial Stability Facility via an extra commitment of money from the International Monetary Fund, a U.S. official told Reuters.
I have an anticipated a lot of moves by the U.S. government. Given the government has debt problems at the federal, state and local levels. That President Obama may hold off his Hawaii vacation for budget and tax talks, the last thing I expected is for the government to jump in to the PIIG pen.
December 2th 2010
Nigel Farage: Euro Empire Collapsing, Bailout River Dry
December 2th 2010
JOIN OUR CRUSADE TO PULL BRITAIN OUT OF THE EU
Senior MPs, peers and campaign groups acclaimed this newspaper’s stand against the sprawling Brussels super-state as a turning point in the battle to win back Britain’s independence.
And Eurosceptic critics of UK membership said the growing financial crisis among the euro nations this week – threatening to cost British taxpayers billions of pounds – has overwhelmingly confirmed the case for British withdrawal.
Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley and a founding member of the Better Off Out group of MPs and peers, led the praise for our crusade last night.
He said: “I think it’s fantastic that the Daily Express sees such a positive future for our country. Britain should be developing trade with China, India, South American and emerging countries in Africa rather than being part of an inward-looking, backward-looking protection racket designed to prop up inefficient European businesses and French farmers.
Ncvember 26th 2010
The horrible truth starts to dawn on Europe's leaders
 In a speech this morning, EU President Herman Van Rompuy (poet, and writer of Japanese and Latin verse) warned that if Europe’s leaders mishandle the current crisis and allow the eurozone to break up, they will destroy the European Union itself.
“We’re in a survival crisis. We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone, because if we don’t survive with the euro zone we will not survive with the European Union,” he said.
Well, well. This theme is all too familiar to readers of The Daily Telegraph, but it comes as something of a shock to hear such a confession after all these years from Europe’s president.
Ncvember 19th 2010
Ireland has been betrayed by its EU 'friends’
 When politics and economics collide, it is often said, the economics always ends up winning. The curiosity of the euro is that it has managed to defy this otherwise universally applicable rule; the politics somehow continues to triumph over the single currency’s self-evidently flawed economics.
For how much longer can this continue? Events in the bond markets this week make it more or less inevitable that Ireland is going to have to follow Greece in seeking support from the European Union’s new bailout fund. Unlike Greece, Ireland is fully funded through to the middle of next year, so there is no immediate danger of a liquidity crisis. All the same, markets aren’t waiting around to find out: some kind of denouement seems to be fast approaching.
Ncvember 14th 2010
EU to target individuals in exchange for retreat on budget
The European Parliament has launched a controversial new power grab, demanding the right to make tax raids on Britain.
MEPs said they would approve a 2.9 per cent rise in the Brussels budget – demanded by David Cameron rather than the 6 per cent originally proposed – but only if they get powers to raise taxes.
At present European funds come from member state governments but now the European Parliament wants to tax individuals across Europe directly to pay for its pet projects.
EU juggernaut must be stopped
 On Wednesday, MPs will be asked to approve revisions to the Lisbon treaty that will enable the EU to oversee the budgets of member states. France and Germany demanded the amendments in order to toughen sanctions against eurozone countries that breach debt rules and require bailing out, as Greece did. David Cameron says this will not affect Britain because we are not in the eurozone. But it seems likely that the proposed overseeing or "surveillance" of national budgets will apply to every member state of the European Union, without exception
Historic British/French Military Deal Highlights Further Global Power Consolidation That We’re Told Isn’t Happening (Except When It Is)
 British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will sign two declarations at a summit in London which will lead to Great Britain and France merging military and technological resources.
The merger is being sold to the public as a way for the two European military powers to cut costs during the current manufactured economic crisis and is yet another step towards a global government which the media and political shepherds still claim doesn’t exist, despite their constant references to it, and their continued promotion of it.
The two countries will form a joint expeditionary force of around 5,000 troops, and their planes will be landing on each other’s aircraft carriers. They will also share facilities at the U.K. Atomic Weapons Establishment in England, and the Valduc facility in France, with scientists from both countries working at each facility.
The agreement is being called an “unprecedented move” for cooperation on defense and security.
Ncvember3th 2010
Baroness Ashton's empire: The EU diplomatic army that dwarfs anything our own Foreign Office could muster
The full staggering scale and cost of the European Union’s new global diplomatic corps can be revealed today.
The so-called European External Action Service (EEAS) will have an annual budget of £5.8 billion and an army of ambassadors across 137 embassies, with up to 7,000 Eurocrats trained to pursue the EU’s foreign policy.
It will be run by Baroness Ashton, the obscure Labour quangocrat and Blair-appointed peer who last year was surprisingly nominated by Gordon Brown to be the EU’s foreign secretary – even though she has never been elected by British or European voters.
The former treasurer of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, whose official title is High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will launch the EU diplomatic corps on December 1 at her sleek new headquarters in Brussels, which will cost £10.5million a year in rent alone.
Ncvember 1th 2010
Powerful EU Nations May Reform “Mission Impossible” Treaty in Secret
 The AFP reported today that the European Union members agreed to make "landmark" and "tricky" reforms to the current Lisbon Treaty designed to "fend off another financial crisis." To clarify, they did not all agree on final reforms, yet they all agreed changes must be made.
However, a top EU diplomat warned that getting all member nations to agree on the actual reforms may be a "mission impossible." So, reportedly, the final deal may be hashed out in secret without any input from the European parliament or "wish-list" political requests from representatives of member states. According to AFP:
The EU 27 are hoping a rewrite can be concluded via a quick and easy procedure that bypasses the European parliament and closes the door on member states who come knocking with wish-lists of their own to re-open chapters of the treaty
October 31th 2010
Armed EU guards to patrol Greece-Turkey border
 A new force of armed European guards is to be dispatched to Greece to patrol the country's border with Turkey in an attempt to stem steeply increasing illegal immigration into Europe.
The deployment of the Rapid Intervention Border Teams, assembled from the border guard forces of other European countries, will be the first time Brussels has deployed multinational armed units on the EU's external land border.
The teams are to arrive in Greece within days, the European commission announced today , although the precise numbers and makeup are yet to be decided.
A commission official said: "This is a new front. The teams are armed, but they can only use their arms in self-defence."
October 28h 2010
Cameron and Sarkozy Build EU Army
 David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy (left) embrace over Anglo-French defence co-operation ... In Britain at least, talk of Anglo-French defence co-operation is usually greeted with deep scepticism and reference to various Napoleonic battles. (Funny how no-one talks about the Crimea, where we were on the same side. But I digress.) So it's striking that the Strategic Defence and Security Review yesterday signalled a lot more cross-channel working. Although Britain's "pre-eminent" defence relationship will still be with the US, the review says Britain must "intensify" its co-operation with France. David Cameron's interest in co-operation is interesting in itself, coming from a Conservative PM. But what strikes me as even more intriguing is President Nicolas Sarkozy's clear enthusiasm. ... According to the PM, the summit will produce "some very exciting steps forward". – UK Telegraph
October 24h 2010
UK: As cuts hit hard at home, we hand even MORE cash to Europe
Britain's contributions to the EU will rise by almost a quarter, despite the deep cuts to public services in this country.
The small print of yesterday’s spending review reveals that net contributions to the EU will rocket from £8.3billion this year to £10.3 billion over the next four years.
Much of the rise is due to Labour’s decision to surrender part of Britain’s budget rebate.
The revelation came as MEPs rubber-stamped a 5.9 per cent increase in the EU’s budget for next year, prompting angry exchanges in the Commons.
Conservative MP Peter Bone described the rise as ‘obscene’. Fellow Tory Philip Davies said it was ‘absolutely unacceptable’.
David Cameron said ministers were still pressing for a freeze in the EU’s budget next year.
October 22h 2010
EU to back sale of meat and milk from cloned animal offspring
 A huge majority of the public is against clone animal farming, according to studies in Britain and across Europe.
Concerns surround the ethics of the process, the welfare of the animals and a lack of research on food safety. However, a leaked report to be discussed by the EU’s College of Commissioners today comes out in favour of food from the offspring of clones.
Alarmingly, it appears this food would not have to be labelled, leaving families completely in the dark about what they are putting in their mouths.
Specifically, the report proposes a temporary five-year ban on the sale of meat and milk from clones, but there would be no ban on food from their offspring.
If this policy is adopted, European farms could be populated by cloned supersize animals used as breeding stock for cows, pigs and sheep that are reared for food.
Clones themselves can suffer a range of painful conditions, including malformed organs and gigantism. Many die in the womb or soon after birth.
October 20h 2010
EU Dictators Plan Fresh Looting Of Tax Slaves
 The sprawling, blood-sucking, dictatorial, EU is trying to fill its coffers at a time when everyone else is being told they must tighten their belts and accept draconian austerity measures, by preparing to impose a new direct tax on European citizens already financially destitute as a result of the economic collapse.
If you want a taste of how the global tax to fund the expansion of world government will be implemented, look no further than the European Commission, which has laid out no less than eight different forms of direct taxation that it wants to impose on citizens of all 27 member states, despite the fact that the majority of people in all of these countries would rather their governments cease all financial commitments to the EU entirely.
October 20h 2010
As Goes Iceland, so Goes the EU?
 Iceland Pension Funds to Block $2 Billion Debt Relief Proposal ... Iceland's pension funds, which hold the bonds behind most of the country's mortgage debt, will try to block proposals to forgive as much as $2 billion in bad loans that the government says it is considering. A group that represents households demanding debt relief says lenders should write off up to 220 billion kronur ($1.99 billion) in mortgage loans to help the 39 percent of homeowners who are technically insolvent. The government this week said it may back the proposal as it responds to protests that drew bigger crowds than in the weeks before former Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde's administration was ousted in January 2009. "We don't support the ideas of the Interest Group of the Homes on general write-offs on loans," said Hrafn Magnusson, managing director of the Icelandic Pension Funds Association, which has assets of about $16 billion, in an interview yesterday. "The measure would mean that members will see their pensions cut." – Bloomberg
October 18h 2010
Joseph Stiglitz: the euro may not survive
The former chief economist of the World Bank and a Nobel prize winner also predicted that short-term speculators in the market could soon start putting pressure on Spain, which is struggling with a large deficit and high unemployment. Last week, Moody's cut the country's credit rating from AAA to Aa1.
The former adviser to President Bill Clinton also says that the banking sector has gone back to "business as usual" too quickly and that there are still risks of another financial crisis despite some improvements in regulation.
October 4th 2010
US Republicans v EU Enviro-Nazis: this should be fun!
 So, the battle lines are drawn.
On the one side, the US Republican party which – after years of despicable RINO-ism – appears finally to have understood that the only proper conservative position on “Man-Made Global Warming” is one of robust scepticism. Not only do we learn from a predictably appalled Guardian that all bar one of the Republicans’ 48 mid-term election candidates are card-carrying sceptics, but almost better still, we have senior Republican Darrell Issa promising a “careful look” at “climate science” post-Climategate.
House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is promising to give a “careful relook” at climate change science in the wake of last year’s “Climategate” scandal if Republicans take over the House.
September 26th 2010
The EU Referendum Campaign is launched
Nine months later, here it is. The EU Referendum Campaign brings together supporters of all parties and none who believe that the question of EU membership should be settled by a popular vote. I make the full case in the main paper. The issue cuts laterally across all the parties; it cannot easily be settled at general elections; it is a matter of first-rate constitutional importance; it divides Parliament from people (only one per cent of MPs oppose EU membership, compared with around 50 per cent of their constituents); all three parties recently promised a European referendum. Europe is, in short, the textbook example of where a plebiscite is proper. The only reason not to hold a popular ballot is because you might not like the outcome – which, in a democracy, is not a worthy objection.
September 9th 2010
EU SUPPORT AT A NINE-YEAR LOW
PUBLIC support for the European Union has collapsed to a nine-year low in all of its 27 countries, a poll has revealed.The European Commission says fewer than half of voters across Europe are in favour of the union.The “Eurobarometer” survey – conducted in May – found only 49 per cent of voters backed the EU, four per cent fewer than last year.Trust was lowest in Britain where only 20 per cent of voters have faith in EU institutions.Following the debt crisis, the survey found widespread fears that EU economies will worsen. Pollster TNS asked 1,000 adults in each EU country and found support near that of 2001 when the internet bubble burst.
August 28th 2010
The EU Banking System Is In Big Trouble
 The EU banking system is in big trouble. Many of the Union's largest banks are sitting on hundreds of billions of euros in dodgy sovereign bonds and non performing real estate loans. But writing down their losses will deplete their capital and force them to restructure their debt. So the banks are concealing their losses through accounting sleight-of-hand and by borrowing money from the European Central Bank. This has helped to hide the rot at the heart of the system.
Presently, 170 banks are having difficulty accessing the wholesale markets where they get their funding,. Financial institutions are wary of lending to each other because they're not sure who is solvent or not. It's a question of trust.
ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet has tried to keep the problems under wraps, but markets aren't easily fooled. Stress gauges, like euribor, have been rising for the last two months. Investors smell a rat. They know the banks are playing hide-n-seek with downgraded assets and they know that Trichet is helping them out.
EU’s secret £400m for 'crazy’ projects
Researchers have unearthed a series of grants issued to schemes deemed “confidential” that have not been subject to outside scrutiny. Taxpayers’ money spent on the projects, many of which have been described as “crazy”, has increased since the onset of recession.
The schemes include £145,000 to print 736 postcards that “reflect the current problems in Europe that generate social exclusion” and £166,000 on a street circus project whose aim is to “strengthen international understanding”.
The European Union has decided to put caps on bonuses that will be paid out to bankers; they will only be able to cash in 30% of their bonus. If they perform well, the bankers will be allowed to collect all 70% of their bonus. Webster Tarpley says that unfortunately it is too little too late and if these measures were in place three years ago, these measures would have a positive effect.
Rubalcaba welcomed the "excellent agreement", which he said had been reached after discussions with the European Parliament.
The treaty must now be approved by the European Parliament. Assuming it does pass it will be in force for five years.
IT gives the US Treasury access to bank transactions although there is now some filtering at the European end. The agreement will be overseen by Europol.
The Swift agreement was first approved in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It lapsed in February after the European Parliament rejected an earlier draft.
The European Data Protection Supervisor remains unimpressed and has questioned the need for bulk transfers of data and the time such data is kept without being investigated by US authorities. The EDPS has also called for better oversight of the process
The euro mutiny begins
 The rebellion against the 1930s fiscal and monetary policies of the Euro-complex is gathering pace.
Il Sole has published a letter by 100 Italian economists warning that the austerity strategy imposed by Brussels/Frankfurt risks tipping Europe into a self-feeding downward spiral. Far from holding the eurozone together, it will cause weaker countries to be catapulted out of EMU. Others will leave in order to restore sovereign control over their central banks and unemployment policies.
At worst it will blow the EU apart, leading to the very acrimony that the European Project was supposed to prevent
 THE Greek government has been advised by British economists to leave the euro and default on its €300 billion (£255 billion) debt to save its economy.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a London-based consultancy, has warned Greek ministers they will be unable to escape their debt trap without devaluing their own currency to boost exports. The only way this can happen is if Greece returns to its own currency.
Greek politicians have played down the prospect of abandoning the euro, which could lead to the break-up of the single currency.
Speaking from Athens yesterday, Doug McWilliams, chief executive of the CEBR, said: “Leaving the euro would mean the new currency will fall by a minimum of 15%. But as the national debt is valued in euros, this would raise the debt from its current level of 120% of GDP to 140% overnight.
 In a flexing of its federal muscle the European Union (EU) is reported as drawing up plans for its first direct tax with proposals expected to be announced next month that will provide the United States of Europe with its first funding derived from direct taxation.
Although many people are ignorant of the fact the EU has appointed a “commissioner for taxation” who is said to be planning a “minimum rate of tax on carbon” to be imposed across the federal union.
Interestingly, a similar proposal was raised some five years ago, but was considered to be so controversial in the sense it conferred federal powers on the EU, that it was quickly dropped without discussion.
The EU is as doomed as its currency – let's get out from under this collapsing monstrosity
The European experiment has failed and is only artificially being kept alive on a life-support system of taxpayer-funded bailouts. The euro is now a zombie currency: only the political will of the European nomenklatura keeps it nominally in existence. That is the exact reverse of the proper relationship between a currency and the state: the currency should be the expression of a healthy economy testifying to the legitimacy of the government it represents. Instead, a synthetic European super-state is showing its non-viability and moribundity through the implosion of its currency.
“Break-up of EU would be good for its member states” – British politician
Nothing is Forever, Even European Union
Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, all members of the European Union currency union – are rocking the union’s boat at the moment.
A nightmare scenario may be building, a scenario in which Greece first and possibly the other three countries could at some point find themselves as former members of the EU, while being forced to resurrect their own individual currencies.
What’s worse, Germany, the nation with the strongest economy of any participant in the currency union, is not only reluctant to bail out the four countries financially, but is re-examining if it wants to continue participation in the currency union or not.
The British newspaper The Guardian quoted a spokesman for the European Commission Feb. 15 as describing Greece’s possible departure from the euro currency union as “completely unrealistic,” while European Central Bank Chief Economist Jürgen Stark recently described the same thought to a German publication as “inconceivable.” “No chance” is how Greece Prime Minister George Papandreou recently described the scenario of a European Union without Greece.
They have put Herman Van Rompuy, the EU President, in charge of a special task force to examine "all options possible" to prevent another crisis like the one caused by the Greek meltdown.
His mission will be to draw up a master-plan for the best way to oversee and enforce economic targets set in Brussels as a key part of a bail-out package for Greece.
Debt Problems Chip Away at Fortress Europe
 For months, the conventional wisdom in Europe was that the speculative aims of bond traders and hedge fund investors would remain largely focused on Greece, Europe’s chronic problem child.
But this week the cost of insuring the debt of not just Greece, but Portugal and Spain as well, rose to record levels — causing stock markets to tumble, the euro to fall, and borrowing costs in the most vulnerable countries to soar.
As a result, governments in the 16 countries that use the euro must now confront a new and disturbing reality: The deal they struck more than a decade ago to create a common currency area, hoping that a single central bank could manage to paper over the divergent economic and financialconditions of its members, is finally being challenged.
EU President Accused Of Acting Like A King
 Mr Van Rompuy has caused consternation in Brussels after he tried to hold his first EU summit, dedicated to greater "economic union", in a palace.
After pressure from Europe's capitals, Mr Van Rompuy switched the Brussels summit to another prestigious, but less regal, building hundreds of yards away from the usual office block venue where EU leaders meet.
But diplomats are still predicting "chaos" when EU leaders meet next week in the ornate, but badly equipped Bibliotheque Solvay, a cramped 100-year-old library which does not even include interpretation booths.
Talks, over two working sessions and lunch, will focus on proposals from Mr Van Rompuy to give the EU more "economic governance" powers in the aftermath of the recession and after implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force last month.
Scandal, waste and waffle of EU diplomacy
Poor Cathy Ashton, our EU High Representative, whose appointment is beginning to look suspiciously like a male conspiracy. Currently she is being blamed for tardiness in creating an EU diplomatic service. Those who, like myself, have the EU’s interests at heart will hope the Baroness suffers no unaccustomed spasm of competence and efficiency.
With its entirely superfluous and hugely expensive foreign service the EU has designed a machine for kicking itself in the pants, an institutionalised scandal that will run and run and one day shake the foundations of the community.
At last one EU country has the guts to pull out of Afghanistan
It was so uplifting to see the Government of the Netherlands make a decision to pull out of Afghanistan. This is the first major NATO partner to make such a decision and hopefully this will paint a very clear picture to the other EU members that this war has nothing to do with democracy or terrorism.
The people have a last seen what hides behind this unnecessary war and realize that its basis was formed on a pack of lies. We again see that the true reason for going to war was greed for economic growth and to get their hands on the oil and gas reserves in the Middle East Region.
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Green pressure groups get €66 million from the EU
Have you ever wondered why the eco-lobby is so pro-EU? Now you have your answer. Green pressure groups are becoming financially dependent on Brussels. Ten years ago, they received €2,337,924 from the European Commission; last year, it was €8,749,940.
A study by the International Policy Network reveals the extent to which Green lobbyists look to the EU for their income: Climate Action Network, Friends of the Earth, WWF, they’re all at it. Much of this money, the paper shows, is then recycled into lobbying the EU.
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EU CHIEF VOWS TO RUN OUR ECONOMY FROM BRUSSELS
EUROPE’S chief bureaucrat last night provoked fury after threatening to use the “full force” of the Lisbon Treaty to impose economic control over every EU nation.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso claimed that financial stability was so critical that sweeping new powers were needed for Eurocrats in Brussels to meddle in the economies of all EU members.
Collapse of the euro is 'inevitable': Bailing out the Greek economy futile, says FRENCH banking chief
The European single currency is facing an 'inevitable break-up' a leading French bank claimed yesterday.
Strategists at Paris-based Société Générale said that any bailout of the stricken Greek economy would only provide 'sticking plasters' to cover the deep- seated flaws in the eurozone bloc.
The stark warning came as the euro slipped further on the currency markets and dire growth figures raised the prospect of a 'double-dip' recession in the embattled zone
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Is the EU a Group Sex Fantasy?
 European citizens do not like the European Union. In an effort to make the EU more sexy the Austrian authorities decided to subsidize a publicity campaign with a series of 150 posters. 75 artists from various places in Europe were asked to each make two posters, but some of them apparently took the request to present the EU in a sexy fashion too literally. In addition to the one depicted here there is a poster which shows two naked women and one naked man in a sexual pose. The man is wearing a mask with the features of the French President Chirac and the women are masked as Queen Elizabeth of Britain and… the American President Bush (one may wonder what he has to do with the EU and why Europeans are meant to see him as a woman). Readers will find a selection of the posters here. The posters arecurrently displayed on 400 billboards in Vienna and will be hung in other Austrian towns in the following weeks.
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EU-US debate – tackling terrorism or invading privacy?
The European Parliament is debating an agreement that allows the banking data of its citizens to be scrutinized by American officials.
Washington says this measure is vital to counter terrorism, but many in Europe see it as an invasion of privacy.
In a deal that came into force temporarily last Monday, the EU and the US are sharing banking data conducted through the SWIFT money transferring system. For supporters, including the US government, it seems a key part of the fight against the financing of international terrorism
But a large body of members of the European Parliament sees it as an infringement of the basic rights of EU citizens. They are worried about how much banking information is going to be revealed, how long it is to be stored and the potential for information to be misused or transferred to a third country.
German foreign minister backs idea of European army
 Germany supports the creation of a European army in the long term so that the EU can be a "global player," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
"The long-term goal is the establishment of a European army under full parliamentary control. The European Union must live up to its political role as a global player. It must be able to manage crises independently. It must be able to respond quickly, flexibly and to take a united stand," he said.
"We want strong European crisis management. This is not intended to replace other security structures. More Europe is not a strategy directed against anyone. No one has any reason to fear Europe, but everyone should be able to depend on Europe," he added
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Berlusconi and Israeli membership in EU
 Italian Prime Minister says Israel should join the European Union, in a u-turn from his earlier remarks criticizing Israel's settlement policy as an impediment to peace.
"My greatest desire, as long as I am a protagonist in politics, is to bring Israel into membership of the European Union," said Silvio Berlusconi at the beginning of a three-day visit to Israel on Monday.
Eight Italian ministers accompanying Berlusconi will hold joint cabinet meetings with their Israeli counterparts.
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10 reasons for Britain to leave the EU
 Daniel Hannan is a writer and journalist, and has been Conservative MEP for South East England since 1999. He speaks French and Spanish and loves Europe, but believes that the EU is making its constituent nations poorer, less democratic and less free.
1. Since we joined the EEC in 1973, we have been in surplus with every continent in the world except Europe. Over those 27 years, we have run a trade deficit with the other member states that averages out at £30 million per day.
2. In 2010 our gross contribution to the EU budget will be £14 billion. To put this figure in context, all the reductions announced by George Osborne at the Conservative Party Conference would, collectively, save £7 billion a year across the whole of government spending.
3. On the European Commission’s own figures, the annual costs of EU regulation outweigh the advantages of the single market by €600 to €180 billion.
4. The Common Agricultural Policy costs every family £1200 a year in higher food bills.
5. Outside the Common Fisheries Policy, Britain could reassert control over its waters out to 200 miles or the median line, which would take in around 65 per cent of North Sea stocks.
6. Successive British governments have refused to say what proportion of domestic laws come from Brussels, but a thorough analysis by the German Federal Justice Ministry showed that 84 per cent of the legislation in that country came from the EU.
7. Outside the EU, Britain would be free to negotiate much more liberal trade agreements with third countries than is possible under the Common External Tariff.
8. The countries with the highest GDP per capita in Europe are Norway and Switzerland. Both export more, proportionately, to the EU, than Britain does.
9. Outside the EU, Britain could be a deregulated, competitive, offshore haven.
10. Oh, and we’d be a democracy again.
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk…ten-reasons-to-leave-the-eu…
Britain is ruled by 26 illegal Brussels sprouts
The EU's Commissioners are still occupying their posts illegally, says Christopher Booker
So we are not to have a new Government until February 26. Furthermore, until that time all but one member of that Government is occupying their position illegally.
Of course, I am here referring not to the silly little joustings between Messrs Brown and Cameron, as they fight for the right to run our provincial government here in Britain. Our real government, in that it now makes most of our laws, resides in Brussels, and on January 1, following the coming into force of the European Constitution (aka the Lisbon Treaty), we were due to get a new set of European Commissioners. But with the exception of its president, José Manuel Barroso, none of the appointees can take up their posts until hearings have been completed in the European Parliament.
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Open Europe’s 50 New Examples Of How The EU Budget Is Wasted
The EU's accountants – the European Court of Auditors (ECA) – have refused to give the EU’s accounts a clean bill of health for the 15th year in a row, owing to fraud and mismanagement in the budget. Like last year, the auditors did sign off the Commission’s own accounts, saying that they accurately represented how much money was raised and spent.
However, the most important issue is the fact that the EU budget is hugely wasteful and irrational in terms of what the money is actually spent on, and where the money is spent. To illustrate this, Open Europe has produced a list of 50 new examples of EU waste designed to show the types of peculiar projects on which EU money is being wasted, such as a luxury golf course in the Algarve
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Buckling Europe fears protests may spark a new revolution
 THE French are revolting. Teachers, television employees, postal workers, students and masses of other public-sector workers will today be united in a hugely popular strike with car workers, supermarket staff, journalists and thousands of others in the private sector.
One poll said that 75 per cent of the public supported the action, which has the backing of the large union groups and opposition socialists. It will be a big test for President Nicolas Sarkozy but, more importantly, the strike will mark the biggest protest so far in one of the world's largest economies against the grief and distress being caused by the catastrophic global downturn.
A depression triggered in America is being played out in Europe with increasing violence, and other forms of social unrest are spreading. In Iceland, a government has fallen. Workers have marched in Zaragoza, as Spanish unemployment heads towards 20 per cent. There have been riots and bloodshed in Greece, protests in Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Bulgaria. The police have suppressed public discontent in Russia, and will be challenged again at large gatherings this weekend.
This is turning into Europe's winter of discontent. Protests are widespread and gathering pace. It seems to be about national interests superseding the common cause that has united countries for decades.
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