The Great European Rip-off By David Craig
Clearly worried by the fact that the British National Party now has two very capable MEPs in Brussels, who will be revealing the undemocratic nature and corruption of the unelected elite of Brussels, the rag papers have decided that perhaps they should start blowing the whistle first.
The following is taken from an article in today's Daily Express by David Craig, the co-author of a book called The Great European Rip-off:
1. Accountability. This is totally lacking in the secretive EU, where more than 45,000 bureaucrats produce in excess of 2,000 laws every year, where critical reports are always kept secret, where whistleblowers are always fired and where scandals are always hushed up.
2. Democracy. The EU is undemocratic because we seldom get the chance to vote on anything and when occasionally we do vote and the answer isn’t the one the euro-elite want, they make us vote again and again to get the result that suits them.
3. Galvin Report. This is a highly confidential audit of how Euro-politicians use the £180,000 a year they get to pay for their assistants. Although the European Parliament has refused to release the report, we now know that at least 90 per cent of politicians audited were found to have “irregularities” in the way that they used this huge allowance.
4. Health Service. The NHS is just one of the many areas which will fall under the control of Brussels once the Lisbon Treaty is implemented. Other areas under the control of the Eurocrats will include education, immigration, transport, social benefits, tourism, taxation, policing, sport, defence, foreign policy and even family life.
5. Independence. Once the Constitution/Lisbon Treaty is implemented, Britain will effectively lose its status as an independent country as most of its laws, defence and foreign policy will be decided by 27 unelected Brussels bureaucrats.
6. Referendum. Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown promised the British people a vote on the Constitution/Lisbon Treaty. This pledge was shamelessly broken and we never had the chance to vote on probably the most important change in Britain’s sovereignty in hundreds of years. Then Brown slunk off to sign the Treaty alone, away from the cameras and other European leaders, as if embarrassed by this betrayal of the people he’s paid to represent.
7. Cost. Ludicrously, the 785 MEPs work in the European Parliament building in Brussels for three weeks a month and then travel to meet in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg for one week a month. They take with them thousands of officials and tons of documents. This completely unnecessary travelling circus costs taxpayers more than £200million a year and benefits no one except Strasbourg hoteliers and restaurants.
8. Expenses. If you thought Westminster politicians’ antics were bad, it’s nothing compared to what’s going on in Brussels. With more than £300,000 a year in receipt-free expense allowances an MEP can easily become a millionaire in just one five-year term.
9. Unelected. The only people in the EU who can propose new laws are the 27 unelected EU commissioners. If these were all highly talented administrators, the fact that they are unelected might not be so worrying. However, most are third-raters sent to Brussels either as a reward for years of sycophantic service to their political leaders or because they have been mired in so many scandals in their home countries that they are an embarrassment and so need to be shunted off.
When New Labour came to power in 1997 about 40 per cent of our laws were made in Brussels. Now it is more than 80 per cent. Moreover, almost all these regulations must be implemented as Brussels specifies. This leaves little for our MPs to do yet they keep increasing their salaries and perks while doing less work.
10: OLAF. This is the EU’s anti-corruption investigation unit. Although corruption is widespread, thanks to OLAF’s blundering incompetence, alleged cover-ups and, of course, all EU employees’ immunity from prosecution, not one EU official has been successfully prosecuted by OLAF. However, all the whistleblowers who have courageously reported massive corruption to OLAF have lost their jobs.
The following is taken from an article in today's Daily Express by David Craig, the co-author of a book called The Great European Rip-off:
1. Accountability. This is totally lacking in the secretive EU, where more than 45,000 bureaucrats produce in excess of 2,000 laws every year, where critical reports are always kept secret, where whistleblowers are always fired and where scandals are always hushed up.
2. Democracy. The EU is undemocratic because we seldom get the chance to vote on anything and when occasionally we do vote and the answer isn’t the one the euro-elite want, they make us vote again and again to get the result that suits them.
3. Galvin Report. This is a highly confidential audit of how Euro-politicians use the £180,000 a year they get to pay for their assistants. Although the European Parliament has refused to release the report, we now know that at least 90 per cent of politicians audited were found to have “irregularities” in the way that they used this huge allowance.
4. Health Service. The NHS is just one of the many areas which will fall under the control of Brussels once the Lisbon Treaty is implemented. Other areas under the control of the Eurocrats will include education, immigration, transport, social benefits, tourism, taxation, policing, sport, defence, foreign policy and even family life.
5. Independence. Once the Constitution/Lisbon Treaty is implemented, Britain will effectively lose its status as an independent country as most of its laws, defence and foreign policy will be decided by 27 unelected Brussels bureaucrats.
6. Referendum. Both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown promised the British people a vote on the Constitution/Lisbon Treaty. This pledge was shamelessly broken and we never had the chance to vote on probably the most important change in Britain’s sovereignty in hundreds of years. Then Brown slunk off to sign the Treaty alone, away from the cameras and other European leaders, as if embarrassed by this betrayal of the people he’s paid to represent.
7. Cost. Ludicrously, the 785 MEPs work in the European Parliament building in Brussels for three weeks a month and then travel to meet in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg for one week a month. They take with them thousands of officials and tons of documents. This completely unnecessary travelling circus costs taxpayers more than £200million a year and benefits no one except Strasbourg hoteliers and restaurants.
8. Expenses. If you thought Westminster politicians’ antics were bad, it’s nothing compared to what’s going on in Brussels. With more than £300,000 a year in receipt-free expense allowances an MEP can easily become a millionaire in just one five-year term.
9. Unelected. The only people in the EU who can propose new laws are the 27 unelected EU commissioners. If these were all highly talented administrators, the fact that they are unelected might not be so worrying. However, most are third-raters sent to Brussels either as a reward for years of sycophantic service to their political leaders or because they have been mired in so many scandals in their home countries that they are an embarrassment and so need to be shunted off.
When New Labour came to power in 1997 about 40 per cent of our laws were made in Brussels. Now it is more than 80 per cent. Moreover, almost all these regulations must be implemented as Brussels specifies. This leaves little for our MPs to do yet they keep increasing their salaries and perks while doing less work.
10: OLAF. This is the EU’s anti-corruption investigation unit. Although corruption is widespread, thanks to OLAF’s blundering incompetence, alleged cover-ups and, of course, all EU employees’ immunity from prosecution, not one EU official has been successfully prosecuted by OLAF. However, all the whistleblowers who have courageously reported massive corruption to OLAF have lost their jobs.
