Three Stooges:

The European parliament has promised to work closely with the European commission on the drafting of the new reform treaty, despite MEP concerns across a range of issues.

This was the conclusion of an informal meeting on Tuesday between parliaments three strong IGC team and commission president José Manuel Barroso.

In a statement, the Three Stooges: Elmar Brok, Enrique Barón Crespo and Andrew Duff said, "We had a fruitful exchange of views [with Emperor Borroso] over a wide range of topics concerning the draft reform treaty.”



Elmar Brok (doesn't he remind you of Shultz from Hogans Hero's) said “For the European parliament, it is of the utmost importance that the mandate for the IGC is fulfilled as agreed,”.“The parliament will not demand any politically motivated changes to be made, but we will also not accept any demands by member states to revise the given mandate.”

Enrique Barón Crespo says he feels a deep sense of responsibility to ensure that the “essence of the EU constitution remains unchecked in the new text.”“The objectives of simplifying the texts…should not allow any major alterations of the EU’s principles. [We should] not throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Meanwhile Andrew Duff writes that he finds it difficult to fathom what the UK hopes to gain from pressing ahead with its opt-out from the charter of fundamental rights.“One of the stranger aspects of the IGC is the way the British have turned against the charter in their efforts to extricate themselves from having to hold a referendum,”.
.

In out, in out, you shake it all about

Gary Titley, the Labour party's leader in the European Parliament, conceded that the UK had not opted out of the controversial Charter of Fundamental Rights. (Daily Mail)

In a debate with union leaders, who are pushing Gordon Brown to hold a referendum, Gary Titley (Labour MEP) said: "The RMT union is arguing that the UK has opted out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This is wrong."



You put your Charter of Fundamental Rights in,
your Charter of Fundamental Rights out
In out, in out, you shake it all about
You do the Hocus Pocus Treaty and you turn around
That's what the Reform Treaty is all about
Whoa-o the Hocus Pocus Treaty
Whoa-o the Hocus Pocus Treaty
Whoa-o the Hocus Pocus Treaty
Knees bent, arms stretched
Raa raa raa
.

David Milliband (mendacious and misleading)

I have just listened to you on the BBC radio 4 today program, quoting the UK governments mantra in relation to the EU reform treaty

"The constitutional concept, which consisted in repealing all existing Treaties and replacing them by a single text called "Constitution", is abandoned".

I have reproduced below the full quote from the June Summit below:

1. The IGC is asked to draw up a Treaty (hereinafter called "Reform Treaty") amending the existing Treaties with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the enlarged Union, as well as the coherence of its external action. The constitutional concept, which consisted in repealing all existing Treaties and replacing them by a single text called "Constitution", is abandoned. The Reform Treaty will introduce into the existing Treaties, which remain in force, the innovations resulting from the 2004 IGC, as set out below in a detailed fashion.

Now come on Mr Milliband, we are all bright enough to extract from the June summit text, that the outcome is that the innovations resulting from the 2004 IGC is the CONSTITUTION.

Instead of one single document incorporating all the text of the other treaties, it is now a text which keeps the other treaties but binds them all together.

i.e. the concept of the reform treaty is to pull the wool over our eyes and for a Secretary of State to part quote is mendacious and misleading.

If you are genuinely confused with regards to the meaning, may I direct you to the provisions of section 3 of the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties

Article 31 General rule of interpretation

1. A treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose.

Article 32 Supplementary means of interpretation

Recourse may be had to supplementary means of interpretation, including the preparatory work of the treaty and the circumstances of its conclusion, in order to confirm the meaning resulting from the application of article 31, or to determine the meaning when the interpretation according to article 31:

(a) leaves the meaning ambiguous or obscure; or
(b) leads to a result which is manifestly absurd or unreasonable

If the vast majority of EU leaders tell us that the EU Reform Treaty is 90 to 99% the (abandoned constitution), then obviously you and your department need to call upon the provisions of the above articles.
.

In Plain English (Och Aye the Noo)

(click on image)

chan fheairrde a' chuis cho Leam-leat's tha cuid
.

12 years of non compliance

Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor, Sunday Telegraph , tells us that, Britain will spend millions on EU opt-outs. She writes that, A copy of the proposed EU budget for 2008 seen by this newspaper reveals that bureaucrats in Brussels will spend swathes of their £84 billion budget, including £10.5 billion of British money, on politically correct initiatives which would seem to have little benefit to Britain.

Even though Gordon Brown claims that Britain won opt-outs from the measures on human rights, common foreign policy, criminal justice, and tax and benefits, British taxpayers will still be paying to set them up and promote them because of the Government's £10.5 billion contribution to the EU budget.

In another Sunday Telegraph article, Patience Wheatcroft writes "For anyone contemplating investment in a business, the auditors' report should be obligatory reading....." But if the auditors feel unable to sign off the accounts, then something is usually very wrong indeed. "Think very hard before handing over your cash to this lot," runs the real message.

She goes on to write Yet Britain will soon be paying over £5 billion or so to an organisation that has failed to produce a clean set of accounts for the last 12 years.

Apart from the 100% diference between Melissa & Patience figures, what they and the Telegraph should realise is;

It doesn't mater how fast you chase the European Commission, you never catch up with the money. This can be expressed as EU = mc12, where EU is the immovable object, mc = mass corruption and 12 is the number of years that it has been impossible to perform a budgetary audit.



As the European Union and the EU Commission draws upon its LEGAL BASIS on budgetary maters from Article 268 to 280 of the EC Treaty, and as the European Union has not performed or been in legal compliance for 12 years, it is not a referendum we should be calling for. It is withdrawal from the European Union using the provision of Article 61 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

Article 61 Supervening impossibility of performance

A party may invoke the impossibility of performing a treaty as a ground for terminating or withdrawing from it if the impossibility results from the permanent disappearance or destruction of an object indispensable for the execution of the treaty. If the impossibility is temporary, it may be invoked only as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty.


12 years of non compliance feels fairly permanent to me.
.

Get your rocks off

Gordon Brown is facing growing pressure over the EU reform treaty, amid claims that more than 100 Labour MPs would back calls for a referendum.

Ian Davidson, the Labour MP for Glasgow South West, warned the prime minister that the party had a "clear and unequivocal manifesto commitment" to hold a UK-wide referendum.



On Tuesday trade unions joined the Tories in calling for a public vote on the treaty, which they believe is substantially the same as the constitution abandoned after voters in France and the Netherlands rejected it two years ago.

Between a rock and hard place
.

Modern Day Britain

Get to grips, learn more

Get over it

a bad boy did this and ran away
.

Jim Murphy MP

The the entire paragraph from the June EU Summit reads as follows:

1. The IGC is asked to draw up a Treaty (hereinafter called "Reform Treaty") amending the existing Treaties with a view to enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the enlarged Union, as well as the coherence of its external action. The constitutional concept, which consisted in repealing all existing Treaties and replacing them by a single text called "Constitution", is abandoned. The Reform Treaty will introduce into the existing Treaties, which remain in force, the innovations resulting from the 2004 IGC, as set out below in a detailed fashion.

Now come on people, we are all bright enough to extract from the June summit text, that the outcome is that the innovations resulting from the 2004 IGC is the CONSTITUTION.

Instead of one single document incorporating all the text of the other treaties, it is now a text which keeps the other treaties but binds them all together.

i.e. the concept of the reform treaty is to pull the wool over our eyes and for a ministers of the crown to part quote is mendacious and misleading.

a big mistake

"People like Hans-Gert Poettering, Jo Leinen, Josep Borell or Elmar Brok do not want to listen to critical arguments. They carelessly reject all the reservations that do not correspond with their ideas. They criticise these objections and parody them beforehand. And this is experienced by the people like myself who had to live behind the Iron Curtain, in the communist times, for long decades, and we therefore know that we should not ignore or underestimate this,"

The words of Czech President Vaclav Klaus in responce to the EU reform treaty

"I see this as a big mistake but the bigger mistake is that they did not tell this to Europeans clearly and distinctly. They should have said loudly that they have practically approved the rejected European constitution,"
.

The Love that dare not speak its name

GORDON Brown was under fire last night for taking the German Chancellor to Wembley — but NOT tackling her over the EU Constitution.

Mrs Merkel used the Germany’s presidency of the EU to revive the constitution — and outgoing PM Tony Blair signed up to it in June.

Last night, No10 said Mr Brown and Mrs Merkel would discuss “a wide range of topics” — but not the EU treaty (The Sun)



How do we encourage the english fans to chant "We want a Referendum" at the England v Germany friendly at Wembley tomorrow?

The crowd goes 'WILD' as Gordon and Angela enter the arena

Referendum, referendum whey hey ey, referendum.
.

Labour voters to vote Tory

Almost a quarter of Labour voters could desert Gordon Brown at the ballot box if he refuses to hold a referendum on the EU constitution. A poll for the Daily Mail also reveals that more than eight out of ten of the wider public want a national vote on the revived Brussels treaty.


Some 13 per cent of Labour voters would consider switching to the Tories if David Cameron promised a referendum, the ICM poll reveals.

.

Rex Belgarum

van België, de Belgique and von Belgien or in English, King of the Belgians.

Politicians in Belgium, are unable to form a government coalition with sufficient support in both parts of the multinational country, i.e. in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of the country, and Wallonia, the French-speaking south. They have asked the Belgian King Albert II to defuse the situation

Like our very own House of Windsor, the Belgium Royal family changed their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, during the first world war.

Also like the Windors, the Belgian royal family rule over a country which is politically split based upon European Union regional borders.

Read more at The Brussels Journal
.

caveat emptor

Latin for 'let the buyer beware'. This implies a buyer must ensure that goods about to be purchased are free from defects and that he/she bears the risk.

It is particularly relevant in property transactions, where the seller is legally obliged not to mislead the buyer, but other than that the onus is on the buyer to satisfy himself that the property is in the condition he wants.

Well, Booker points out in this weeks Sunday Telegraph

The EU loves to boast of how its CE mark system is respected all over the world, but it has one fundamental flaw. There is in fact no way of guaranteeing that a product has been properly tested. All too often, not least in China, fraudulent CE marks are slapped on products indiscriminately, reducing the system to a charade. As has been observed, CE all too often now seems to mean no more than "China exempted".


.

Where are we

UK ministers have stopped denying that the European Union Reform Treaty it is the same document as the European Union Constitution because of the unexpectedly large number of European leaders prepared to publicly state that the new treaty is essentially the same as the old.

The government now argues that while it is indeed the same for other member states, it is different for the UK because of its various opt-outs and safeguards.



But the various safeguards the Government is basing this argument on were also in the original version of the constitution - on which the government promised to hold a referendum.

As reported in todays Telegraph
.

Revealed... In the style of Butler

The First Afghan War provided the clear lesson to the British authorities that while it may be relatively straightforward to invade Afghanistan it is wholly impracticable to occupy the country or attempt to impose a government not welcomed by the inhabitants. The only result will be failure and great expense in treasure and lives.


(click on image)

At the time the British Army learnt a number of lessons from this sorry episode. One was that political officers must not be permitted to predominate over military judgments.

.

UK government to monitor blogs

The COI, the UK government’s communications agency, is working on a way to monitor what people say about policy on blogs and internet forums for the media briefings it sends to ministers. Financial Times

The blog project was in part prompted by departments’ concerns at being caught unawares by debates spread on the web



No debate here, move along
.

China Exempt

The Department for Business (the former Department of Trade and Industry) and now an executive agency of the European Union, responsible for Enterprise and Regulatory Reform tell us via their web site :

"CE marking is a declaration by the manufacturer that the product meets all the appropriate provisions of the relevant legislation implementing certain European Directives. CE marking gives companies easier access into the European market to sell their products without adaptation or rechecking. The initials "CE" do not stand for any specific words but are a declaration by the manufacturer that his product meets the requirements of the applicable European Directive(s)".

It seems that enterprising Chinese manufactures weren't aware of this and thought CE = China Exempt

.

Question for Brown

Ok Gordon, you have ratified the reform treaty and you are now sitting at the first European Council meeting (you know, the council, a legal institution of the European Union by way of Article 9)

1. The Union shall have an institutional framework which shall aim to promote its values, advance its objectives, serve its interests, those of its citizens and those of the Member States, and ensure the consistency, effectiveness and continuity of its policies and actions.

In response to the Canadian Governments announcement that Canada will build two new military facilities within contested Arctic waters to bolster its sovereign claim over the fabled Northwest Passage. The Danish prime minister stands up and invokes the provisions within the current "Article 224 (of the European Treaty)

Member States shall consult one another with a view to taking in common the necessary steps to avoid the operation of the Common Market being affected by measures which a Member State may be called upon to take in case of serious internal disturbances affecting public policy or the maintenance of law and order ("ordre public"), in case of war or serious international tension constituting a threat of war, or in order to carry out undertakings into which it has entered for the purpose of maintaining peace and international security".

What do you do?

If I recall correctly, In Canada, Her Majesty's official title is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Will you insist that the armed forces breach their oath of loyalty to the Queen backed by Parliament in favour of your solemn treaty obligation? Or will you remember that you are a privy councilor and that our common law system still has section 3 of Treason Felony Act 1848 on the statute book.

If any person whatsoever shall, within the United Kingdom or without, compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend to deprive or depose our Most Gracious Lady the Queen, from the style, honour, or royal name of the imperial crown of the United Kingdom, or of any other of her Majesty’s dominions and countries, or to levy war against her Majesty, within any part of the United Kingdom, in order by force or constraint to compel her to change her measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon or in order to intimidate or overawe both Houses or either House of Parliament, or to move or stir any foreigner or stranger with force to invade the United Kingdom or any other of her Majesty’s dominions or countries under the obeisance of her Majesty, and such compassings, imaginations, inventions, devices, or intentions, or any of them, shall express, utter, or declare, by publishing any printing or writing ... or by any overt act or deed, every person so offending shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable ... to be transported beyond the seas for the term or his or her natural life.

.

Haunting words

Prime Minister's press conference
Thursday, April 22, 2004

".......... But what you can't do is have a situation where you get a rejection of the treaty and then you just bring it back with a few amendments and say we will have another go. You can't do that and I am not going to get drawn into speculating the way forward because I don't intend to lose the referendum. But one thing you said which I have to correct, because this is very very important, this is not a constitution in the sense that it is different from any other treaty of the European Union, its legal status is a treaty, so it is the same treaty as any of the other treaties that has been signed up to by governments before us."



So if it was an ordinary treaty then and we were going to have a referendum. Then the reform treaty is equally an ordinary treaty and we should have a referendum now.

.

Mirror, mirror

Don't follow the yellow brick road

A 'Straw Man' argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.

To "set up a straw man is to create a position that is easy to refute, then attribute that position to the opponent. A straw man argument can be a successful rhetorical technique (that is, it may succeed in persuading people) but it is in fact a misleading fallacy, because the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted.



Follow the UK governments argument at the Myth Buster
.

What goes around, comes around

David Cameron was dealt a severe blow last night when the latest YouGov opinion poll put Labour 10 points ahead of the Tories


"I will withdraw the Conservative Party from the EPP by Christmas". (David Cameron, Frimley 23/11/05)

A stick in the spokes

.

(Ode an die Freude) The Irony

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral" is the last complete symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is probably better known as the European Union anthem the 'Ode to Joy' When Beethoven began work on the symphony, he was completely deaf.



Now we hear the Schiller notes (play on words)

"Deeper meaning resides in the fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in any truth that is taught in life."

Article 9 of the EU Reform Treaty

The Union's institutions (read government) shall be:
– the European Parliament,
– the European Council,
– the Council,
– the European Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "Commission"),
– the Court of Justice of the European Union,
– the European Central Bank,
– the Court of Auditors.

Sure plays a mean pinball

.

Trichet he say’s ‘No’ to Article 9

The president of the European Central Bank does not like Article 9 of the EU Reform Treaty. He doesn’t think "Those are words on paper…"

Jean-Claude Trichet has concerns that the treaty which gives the EU a new legal framework will undermine the Banks independence.

His concern is that, as an EU institution, the ECB would be bound by the same code that applies to the Commission and European Council - namely to co-operate with each other and to pursue a set of common European values.

In other words he dosnt want the ECB to be part of the supreme government of Europe

The Telegraph thinks it's all the fault of France.

Zweites Buch

After the Nazi Party's poor showing in the 1928 elections, Hitler believed the reason for the loss was that the public did not fully understand his ideas. He retired to Munich to dictate a sequel to Mein Kampf. The Zweites Buch (second book)

Similarly, after the referendums in France and Holland in 2005, where both countries rejected the EU constitution, the EU Commission and it's sycophantic followers retired to Berlin to dictate a sequel to the EU constitution. The Zweites Buch or as it has become commonly known the EU Reform Treaty



Don't forget to Sign the Referendum Petition HERE
.

Stripped of seat on UN security council

Gordon Brown's foreign office minister Lord Malloch-Brown has said, that BRITAIN should be stripped of its seat on the United Nations Security Council. Sun & Times

He predicted Britain and France would lose their seats once the EU has a comprehensive foreign policy which forms part of the European Union Reform Treaty (i.e. EU constitution)

According to a report by the EU Observer, he told Brussels diplomats that the EU was heading toward one single seat within the UN institutions. He said: “I think it will go in stages. We are going to see a growing spread of it institution by institution. It is not going to happen with a flash and a bang.” He added that he hoped that it would happen “as quickly as possible. I’m a huge fan of it.”

An interesting point is made over at IRONIES TOO blog.

Can Britain remain within the Commonwealth?

1. The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states, each responsible for its own policies, consulting and co-operating in the common interests of their peoples and in the promotion of international understanding and world peace.

IT IS DOUBTFUL THAT BRITAIN EVEN TODAY MEETS THAT REQUIREMENT....AFTER THE EU REFORM TREATY IT MOST CERTAINLY WILL NOT.
.

"There is no retreat from here, men,"

These are the famous words of Sir Colin Campbell, spoken as the British Army formed, drawn up in line, two deep, to fend off a cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaclava

Campbell told them as he rode down the line, "you must die where you stand."

The Times correspondent, W. H. Russell, who standing on the hills above could clearly see that nothing stood between the Russian cavalry and the defenceless British base but the "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel"

This image almost immediately became the phrase "The Thin Red Line", and has survived to this day as the chosen symbol for everything which we free and independent British people stand.



Richard over at the Eureferendum blog has a new feature. An analysis of the troops who are forming the latest 'Thin Red Line'

and if you are any doubt that we need reinforcements to bolster this 'thin red line', then read todays Christopher Booker's notebook in the Telegraph.
.

Latest Barbie Doll

No shoes, No clothes, No make-up,
No car, No food, No house, No farm

ZIMBARBIE!

Jim Murphy..Minister for the Europe Union is a lying arse hole

Unlike your colleges I am not constrained by parliamenty convention.

I challenge you to state, that you are not a liar in a court of law.

As we, the public know, you wont do that, why? because my statement is true

.

'non' passerelle

At the moment to much work prevents me from being to EU analytical, but Richard North quite eloquently sums up the effects of Articles 444 & 445 of the proposed European Union's amending treaty (i.e. the EU constitution). Read more at the Eureferdum blog.
















All I can add, is that I sincerely hope, that this is the Emperor Barroleon 's Passerelle Beresina

i.e. 'A Footbridge to Far'

Sold down the river

= Betrayed or cheated.

The phrase originated in the Mississippi region of the USA during slave trading days. Slaves who caused trouble were sold from the northern slave states into the much harsher conditions on plantations in the lower Mississippi river.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is net contributor to the European Union budget (i.e. we pay in more than we get back).

So, when the dead tree press report the UK government is to seek assistance from the European Union to help cover the multi-billion pound cost of the country's destructive flooding in June and July, what they really mean is................. Britain would like a little bit more of our money back.

It is not European Union money, it is the money that we, as UK tax payers, have handed over to the European Union in the first place.

So if you were one of the victims that was flooded out and now find yourself bunked up with friends, in a B&B or a caravan. Just think, if the UK government hadn't given all that money to the European Union in the first place, it would have been spent on better flood defences to protect your home.

Sold down the river, you have been
.

Everyone can be a Henry

The Government's controversial Home Information Pack Regulations have come into force today amid claims the law governing them will be unenforceable.

From today anyone putting a property with four or more bedrooms up for sale in England and Wales must compile one of the packs



Some Acts of Parliament grant ministers 'reformative powers', with future Statutory Instruments able to modify the Act of Parliament themselves; this capability is called 'Henry VIII powers' in reference to Henry VIII's powers to change statutes by letter patent.

It is patently obvious that Statutory Instrument 2007 No. 1667 will be unenforceable

I'm Henry the Eighth, I am
Henry the Eighth, I am, I am.
.