Damocles and his EU

[Freddie]

This is what Damocles champions, see if you can find any sense or justification for this as it is your money that is handed out to loses and it looks like you are going to pay more

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/europe/04/money/html/who_pays_what.stm

 

[JulieL]

Freddie - I'm not one for all this political mumo jumbo, STI's are much more straightforward!!! but I have read all of the post you and Damocles have made - you are both very passionate about your beliefs........which is something I find interesting and entertaining!!

Lets be honest, the politicians will decide our fate regarding Europe (and anything else) no matter what us menials think!!!

 

[Freddie]

Julie would you believe me if i honestly told you i hate politics, i find it numb nuttingly boring, but Damocles gets up my nose so much i want to stamp on his head somedays.

He even has me now looking at political stuff on the BBC website.

I am going to top my self before i end up as sad as him-----please excuse my last 150 posts on here i am nothing like that in real life, i just think i am caught in the Twilight Zone

Beam me up Scotty PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!

 

[kendor]

please excuse my last 150 posts on here i am nothing like that in real life, i just think i am caught in the Twilight Zone

Beam me up Scotty PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!

going by your posts i can believe that

 

[AdamW]

They are most likely to receive big EU cash injections if they are poorer than average, or if they have large, inefficient farming sectors.

Is efficiency purely a Nordic/Germanic quality? I do wonder. Of the top 5 givers, 4 are Germanic. And the non-Germanic one, France, has been largely influenced by Germanic culture over the years.

Perhaps instead of supporting inefficient farms they should modernise and improve efficiency?

According to those olive-oil spread adverts, people in the Mediterranean live longer cos of olive oil. I reckon that it's because of the nutritional value of £50 notes.

 

[Freddie]

 

[Damocles]

Hi freddie, sorry I was busy elsewhere.

Erm, so what is new about those figures? They just say that the EU is paying development aid to the poorer members. Next set of figures will no doubt show much less money to spain et al. and and more to Poland etc. All it says is we have a 3billion development budget to help poorer countries in europe. Not big money these days.

Now the really interesting thing I read was that farm subsidy to the new members has been limited to 1/4 the going rate and will be raised over 10 years to the same as everyone else. Sounds like a budget crunch on the way. Interesting to see if we can squeeze the French into reorganising the CAP.

 

[nstreet]

looking in simplistic terms, instead of getting a rebate each year why not put less in the pot in the first place?

 

[Damocles]

What goes in the pot depends on how much people buy in the shops. A small proportion of VAT I think. It is a simple principle which is kind of fixed and more or less fair. The problem is that most of the money gets spend on very specific things and Britain tends to get left out. So everyone agreed the position was ridiculous and we deserved a rebate. The position is less ridiculous now, but there is still a good case for a rebate. France knows that perfectly well.

The difficulty is that any sensible reorganisation of expenditure would mean France got less. Funnily enough they have never been willing to agree to that. They have only agred with reforms which have taken place (agriculture is a much smaller proportion of the budget nowadays) because of pressure on the budget. We should keep it up and absolutely refuse to surrender our rebate unless there is a cast iron alternative plan.

 

[AdamW]

Well, Schroeder has said he is prepared to compromise and have a review of all EU funding if the UK is prepared to renegotiate the rebate in this review.

So, the two big economic powerhouses of Europe, the two main contributors who between them contribute more than twice as much as the rest of the EU put together (even more if you don't include the rebate), are demanding a review.

Seeing as between us we are contributing two-thirds of the money, I say that's a two-thirds majority in favour of a review.

As to paying to develop poorer countries: why should we? I have no trouble with them spending money to improve basic needs such as water, or things that could benefit all of Europe such as fuel supplies. But why is there a need to give them motorways?

 

[Freddie]

As to paying to develop poorer countries: why should we? I have no trouble with them spending money to improve basic needs such as water, or things that could benefit all of Europe such as fuel supplies. But why is there a need to give them motorways?

Boy and could i tell you about the things i have seen here in Ireland like that with your EU cash

 

[Damocles]

Apparently the new constitution would give the parliament more control over the budget. They would be able to vote down the agricultural budget, which they can not do now. Maybe this is why the French did not like it?

 

[securespark]

numb nuttingly boring

Surely that should be nut-numbingly boring?

 

[Freddie]

i thought they felt funny

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

If you are to have home grown food ( and you have to as any country which doesnt produce most of its own food would soon find itself in trouble --ie.----a dockers strike etc etc etc ) then every country has to subsidise its farmers in some way simply because no body would do it-----long or unsociable hours----dirty filthy work-----low wages-----huge capital outlay-----from a business point of view---a dead loss.

i do admit I grieve to see the poor farmer move his 30k Range Rover so he can get his merc out, boy, do I cry !