What a mess Eur in now...

Over recent months the EU has been in the news quite a lot. For a change.
But it's not good news, whatever spin you put on it.
All the critics of the Euro are now champing at the bit to say "I told you so" - but what good will that do?
The single currency could never work across such a disparate collection of states. In order for one currency to stand the test of time, economies must be put on an even keel, which means homogenizing various attributes of trading, lending and business across the board. In order in turn to achieve this sort of commonality, politics too and domestic spending must be equatable. In Greece the cause of collapse has been put down to flagrant overspends of public money and ludicrous under-taxing. In Ireland, it's the reckless lending of banks that have bled the country dry. Spain, Portugal and Italy, and now, so they say, Belgium, are also at risk of falling, connected by a now bitterly devalued currency that will find it tremendously hard to get back on its feet. Surely there can be no future for the Euro, as such problems will come round time and again unless a federal inter-country bloc is established. And it's not just UKIP who detest the thought of that. It goes against the public wishes of nearly every member state. Losing sovereignty is an issue, therefore, so is a single currency.
But this of course poses a problem for the EU, who ultimately want to see deeper integration, a centralised political state of Europe. Without the Euro, what else have the Commission got to justify an onslaught of common legislation? Some might say introducing the Euro before creating a federal state was building the trains before laying the tracks. Derailing was a guarantee.
So what will happen now?
Certainly the EU must cling to the Euro to justify the whole project isn't jeopardized. Even Van Rompuy came out with a sweeping statement to this tune. But clinging isn't as easy as it sounds. If Portugal falls next, the European Central Bank and EU reserves available for bail outs would just cover the costs. But if this happens, what about Spain, with a far bigger balance sheet? The ECB itself risks having to be bailed out and the only economy that could wade in and help is Germany, whose population is already calling for a return to the Deutschmark. Surely in a "democratic" institution, the vox populi should shine through?
Well we are yet to see that happen, on Lisbon, on monetary union, on all sorts. But the next round of national elections in certain countries could see a lot of anti European sentiment develop, and national governments less cooperative than the France and Germany of today who have negotiated setting up a crisis cash reserve for the next loose thread.
Below are some vids of what was a very busy week in Strasbourg. I think that rather than try to write about everything I spoke about, it would be easier to post the clips instead!

Gross misrepresentation

You may have seen on the day or subsequent to publication an article in the Daily Mail suggesting I was wrongly claiming daily allowances by signing in to Parliament on the morning of Friday 12th November despite the fact I had a day of meetings to attend before I could leave for Wales.

I want to make clear that I work very hard with my staff to make any claims entirely transparent and in accordance with both the codes of conduct of the Parliament and what I believe is just. I do not and never will over-claim allowances or see paid expenses as a profit making opportunity.

The system in place has plenty of flaws.

I have issued a statement informing the press I am pursuing this matter. I do not accept the implications of what was reported in both the newspaper and by the programme which grossly misrepresented me as a politician and an individual.

The statement reads:

"I strongly refute the suggestion made by the Daily Mail on Saturday 13^th November 2010 and by the Channel Four Dispatches programme on Monday 15^th November 2010 to the effect that on Friday 12^th November 2010 I claimed my daily allowance at the European parliament improperly. I am currently seeking legal advice on this matter."

EU must be joking!

On the same day that George Osborne delivered to the UK his package on cuts the EU voted to increase their budget by 6%. I can't think of one EU country not having to claw back lost taxpayer contributions that have been swallowed by deficit and similarly wish to reiterate that just weeks ago Brussels passed legislation allowing the EU to fine any country that fails to keep within stipulated limits of debt.

Rumour has it that within the budget increase is an augmented allowance for champagne receptions and limousines.

This is not just a drop in the ocean though. With the EU now making some 75% of our legislation, proposing direct taxation, demanding to scrutinise our budgets and setting up a Foreign Office power is becoming increasingly centralised while the nation states are being subsumed by relinquishing public services to afford massive debts. Whilst some countries have been worth bail outs from Brussels, others haven't, and of course, those that did qualify are all using the doom ridden Euro, the centrepiece of Brussels' federal display.

It's appalling that we are still a member of this ridiculously expensive club and what irritates me further is the Westminster Government being far too complicit in Europe's every whim. Isn't it about time Osborne suggests cutting the UK out of Europe?

If we left Europe there would be no need for cuts at all. Considering the £81 billion of savings George Osborne has outlined for the next five years, it's interesting to point out that our contributions to Brussels over the same period amount to £82 billion. Not only that but billions would be saved on not having to administer EU law, pay child support to EU migrants and provide employment and education for anyone from the other member states wishing to settle here.

At £45 million a day, that works out as £16 million a year. Multiply by five and what do you get?

£45,000,000 x 365 days = £16,425,000,000 per year

X

5 Years = £82,125,000,000

And those calculations don't even include the 6% budget increase Brussels has ludicrously secured. The numbers surely speak for themselves.

Fight For Funds

It's not often I go with the begging bowl outstretched in Europe, but when thousands of jobs have been created under the auspices of an EU programme in Wales which is set to be cut in 3 years then I will do my utmost to protect my country.
Regional Development funds, structural funds, convergence, cohesion...It's all been in the press lately as it is becoming clear that East Wales could lose £280m worth of funding after 2013. Martin Shipton ran an article on it in today's Western Mail after meeting with us in Brussels yesterday. Regional Development funding accounts for a significant proportion of the very little the UK actually recoups from soaring membership fees. £280m that is therefore rightfully ours, in Wales, in the first place, given that the UK actually pays some £6bn to Brussels and will likely pay more year on year.
I have addressed the Budget Commissioner over the issue when he came to speak with my Committee on Regional Development. President Barroso recently visited Wales and was escorted around the Assembly on a Structural Funds Presentation. All the Welsh MEPs are working together to make sure that Wales doesn't lose out on the cash, and to guarantee transitory arrangements to protect us socially and economically if Brussels do decide to pull the rug from under our feet.
Below is video of me speaking in Parliament earlier today on the issue.

Keep your eyes on the press too, for they've got wind of the story, and for once, the EU is being reported.

Mandy Hand-me downs

Disgusted I am at news over the weekend that Lord Mandelson is receiving pay from the EU for doing absolutely nothing. Two years after leaving the post as a commissioner, Mandy is among 17 former commissioners still receiving half of their former salaries. Not only that but it's £8,600 a month!
I mean really, how many other people leave a job and are still getting paid for NOT doing it two years later? It's not like Mandy's been hard up, on the dole, trying to get by from week to week. Even on this half salary he could pay the dole to around 15 people who really did need the support.
It sickens me that at the same time, I am fighting tooth and nail to make sure the EU doesn't pull the plug on funds to Wales which have been in place for years now and are responsible for thousands of jobs, because if the money suddenly disappears God knows what will be flushed down the sink and in what state Wales would be left.
This week a delegation from Welsh Local Government Authority are over in Brussels lobbying for protection of Regional Development monies after 2013 in East Wales and Barroso himself is coming over on Thursday to discuss Structural Funds (and enjoy the golf no doubt). While I am fighting to make sure men and woman struggling in Wales stay in employment, and demanding the UK taxpayer sees some return on the amount of money poured into this undemocratic organisation, it is galling to see the likes of Mandy still receiving 8 grand a week for having sold our country to Brussels.
I suppose his autobiography couldn't have sold that many copies afterall, because surely no one would suggest he was THAT greedy???

Frankenfish and Farce

I've read today that apparently a new breed of GM salmon could soon be winging its way to Europe and could well be on a table near you very soon. The genetically altered specimen grows twice as fast as a normal fish and has been approved by American authorities as safe for human consumption. We already face encroaching widespread fish farming as Brussels' Common Fisheries Policy drains our oceans of stock, but the thought of genetically modified farmed fish makes my skin crawl.
GM crops are one thing, but man made fish is surely taking the laws of nature and totally ripping up the rule book. European legislation suggests each member state is able to decide how much they wish to use genetic modification, but does put a ban on cloning. However with the amount of meat and fish brought in from third countries via trade deals, and repackaged and sold in supermarkets, it is likely at some point the Frankenfish will descend on Europe. Chilling.

Meanwhile whilst we are facing cuts a plenty here in the UK, Baroness Ashton has the cheek to demand an eight per cent budget increase for her new EU External Action Service (read here "EU Foreign Affairs".) Not only is there surely no room to maneouvre for a so called external service when foreign affairs is supposed to remain a sovereign dependency, but whilst the rest of Europe scrimps and saves post recession, the good Baroness has thrown frugality out of the window.

I received a big cheer from the hemicycle today after once again pointing out to the wasteful Commission that few MEPs can see the worth in travelling all the way to Strasbourg once a month (or even twice, as it has been this month) to hold debates which could more easily and cheaply be conducted in Brussels. Why we transport thousands of staff with a cargo of trunks packed with documents across the continent to a rather grandiose building used but 12 times a year, all funded by the taxpayer, I surely don't know. It is an absolute farce and should really rile the hardworking citizens of Europe who are seeing public services cut, taxes raised, prices shoot up all under the watchful eye of the supposedly austere European Commission.

It's more a case of "do as I say" not "do as I do" and quite frankly it has to stop. This issue unites MEPs from all countries and parties, other than a handful of French whose country no doubt benefits from the monthly circus coming to town. I thought the Gallic trend was currently to evict workshy, tax-feeding foreigners? Perhaps not!

Publish Post

I am, and I'm not.

Ok, ok, forgive us our sins oh mighty BBC!
To err is human, and being able to laugh at ourselves, well, that's something essential if you are to stay sane in the world of politics. There's always a scrum of journalists waiting for the smallest slip up.
My ever industrious press officer issued a statement on my behalf yesterday and missed the vital word "not"in the opening sentence. That is, she failed to put the not in "I am NOT standing in the leadership contest."
Yet the rest of the statement was typed to perfection and one would think the sentences that followed explaining my decision not to stand would have elucidated the fact that the exclusion of a negative in the opening sentence was a typo. It's surely happened to us all hasn't it? And the poor girl is suffering rather grizzly sounding aberrations of the cornea at the moment, leaving her somewhat partially sighted and struggling at the mercy of a computer screen.
To clarify the matter she quickly hurried out an amendment. By that time however the blogpost was almost at fruition, and it would be a shame to let a good joke go.
Thankfully we both find it funny.
But just to clarify
I am NOT standing.
Got it Betsan?

Betsan Powys Blog:
"Another race, another set of bookies' odds - this time the UKIP leadership, which John Bufton MEP is 5-1 on to take. But he's not standing. Or is he?
He's just released a statement in which "the MEP for Wales believes he must clarify that he is taking part in the leadership contest".
That's clear then. He is.
"While I am of course flattered to hear that I have received backing to be UKIP's next leader I must reiterate that I will not at this time be nominating myself as a candidate for the role".
So he's not?
As I type, the statement has just been re-sent: "Statement from John Bufton MEP on UKIP Leadership contest (with slight amendment)".
The "slight" amendment? "Not". Got it?