The EUrinal

Support Vaclav Klaus

2009-10-14T04:47:00.001-07:00

I've just appended my signature to a petition in support of President Klaus's brave stance against the fascist-like behaviour of the EU oligarchs and would urge you to do the same. He seems determined to stick to his guns and find a way of delaying his signing of the Lisbon Treaty to give the Tories time to grab power at the forthcoming general election and hold a referendum.

However, he is coming under huge pressure from other EU member states to sign. Brussels diplomats have even gone as far as to call for President Klaus's impeachment or contemplate the removal of his Lisbon Treaty veto powers. Despite this, the Czech President remains resolute in his determination not to ratify a treaty he believes would take the EU down the wrong road.

Obviously, gestures of support for his principled stance can only help to sustain him. He needs to know that there are people all over Europe who back him and are hoping and praying that there is still time to ditch the move to a European Superstate.

The petition can be reached through this great website in support of President Klaus. Please take a couple of minutes to register your support by signing the petition. More than 11,000 people from across Europe have already done so and scores of names are being added daily.

Cameron and Klaus: A Secret Deal?

2009-10-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

What is one to make of the Tories' position with regard to the Lisbon Treaty and a referendum? Unlike some left-wing leaning commentators and their innocently-feigned obfuscation, I have no problem understanding David Cameron's stance - I just can't see what he hopes to gain.

Cameron has promised a referendum for the UK on the treaty if it hasn't already been ratified by the General Election and assuming that the Conservatives manage to form a government. If the treaty is ratified before an election, Cameron and shadow foreign secretary William Hague will immediately say how they intend to proceed.

That's clear enough. But why not just say what the fall-back position is right now instead of waiting for ratification? What's in it for the Tories? If they genuinely have a post-ratification policy nothing is likely to alter it between now and ratification. If it's a fudge that's not going to win them any new friends and may even lose them some support, then is it better to do it closer to an election rather than now when there's at least time to repair the damage? As was seen during the Conservative Party conference, this unwillingness to come clean has just opened them up to the old "dithering" taunts that were once reserved for John Major. With all due respect to Mr Major, I can't see Cameron relishing that reminder.

The only explanation that makes any sense to me is that Cameron and Hague are confident they will not have to reveal their post-ratification policy - if they even have one - at all. Ever. The Irish, after suffering a home-grown crisis in confidence, lost their balls and voted "Yes" in their second referendum, overturning the "No" result of the first vote. The Poles have said they are keen to ratify as soon as possible and there seems to be nothing standing in their way. That leaves the Czechs as the sole obstacle to ratification.

We know Czech President Vaclav Klaus's opposition to signing the treaty: he's on record as saying, quite correctly, that it threatens his country's sovereignty. Klaus-friendly Czech senators have helped him keep his pen in his pocket by lodging a complaint against the treaty in the country's constitutional court which is not likely to be resolved for another few weeks. Now, the Czech President has thrown another spanner in the EU works by demanding an amendment.

He hasn't revealed the precise details but it relates to guarantees on the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Any amendment would have to be agreed by all 27 EU states which could just drag the process out long enough for the Conservatives to be voted into Downing Street.

This is when we have to ask the same question of the Czech President that we put to Cameron at the start of this post. What's in it for him? If he intends to ratify the treaty then why would he seek to delay it? Delay for the sake of delay makes as much sense for Klaus and the Czechs as it does for Cameron and Hague. That's where the secret deal comes in. It all makes perfect sense if the object is to allow Britain enough time to sink the treaty in a referendum.

This is an important time in the history of Europe. We may be approaching the defining moment for the entire continent. The Lisbon Treaty paves the way for a European superstate - complete with its own president in the form of the smirking Tony Blair. When the history of Europe is written up in years to come, it could be that Vaclav Klaus will be seen as the man who stood up for sovereign states and spiked the ambitions of Europe's political class.

Here we go again...

2009-08-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

The first post in a new blog but the same old EU. News just in shows that, aided and abetted by Bottler Brown, the Fife Failure, the UK will be upping its contribution to the EU by 60% next year. That means our annual contribution will rise from the present £4.1bn - itself an abomination - to a scarcely believable £6.4 bn.

Such large numbers are sometimes difficult to comprehend but put it this way: it's enough to give every voter in Brown's Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency a £160,000 Christmas present. Breaking it down further, it's the equivalent of £125m per week. That's £257 for each of the country's 25 million households. The UK is the second biggest net contributor to the EU behind Germany. And what do we get for this amazing largess?

Well, for a start, we get a position firmly at the bottom of the EU handout league. Yes, despite being a major benefactor, the UK gets the smallest sum of cash returned to it in grants and aid of the 27 EU nations. Oh, and I almost forgot about the UK's rebate. This was a concession won by Margaret Thatcher after she handbagged the then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the 1980s. It was surrendered by Blair and Brown who negotiated away £7.2bn over six years. In the coming year, the UK rebate will be slashed from £5.1bn to £3.3bn. Thanks, guys.

This would all be bad enough if the money was going to a tightly-run, efficient and fair organisation. Sadly not. The EU is red rotten with fraud, corruption, waste and slush funds. The EU's independent auditors have refused for the last 14 years to sign off the quasi-superstate's accounts. If your local council behaved like that its officers would be sacked and its councillors hounded out of office. Since the EU does not consider itself accountable to anyone, least of all mere voters, it gets away with it.