Wednesday - November 04, 2009

Lisbon Treaty: more of Britain’s powers surrendered to Brussels. Gordon Brown cheerful.

Britain’s power to govern itself is to be surrendered increasingly to Brussels after the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty was finally ratified.

By James Kirkup and Bruno Waterfield

SOURCE, TELEGRAPH

The treaty, which will come into force within a few weeks, will create the first president of Europe, as well as a European foreign minister, and will end Britain’s right to veto new EU rules in more than 40 policy areas.

The treaty’s supporters say it will allow the EU to operate more efficiently and give it greater influence in world affairs.

But critics say it will cede too much more of Britain’s sovereignty to Brussels.

Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic, yesterday signed the Lisbon Treaty, ending eight years of resistance to its attempt to give more power to the EU.

The Czechs are the last of the 27 EU states to sign the treaty, and their move forced the Conservatives to abandon their pledge to hold a British referendum on Lisbon.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said it was “a bad day for British democracy”.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, will today set out plans for an alternative Tory pledge to renegotiate several parts of Britain’s EU membership, trying to win back control over social and employment laws.

It is understood that one of Mr Cameron’s options will be to guarantee a referendum for British voters under a Tory government if any more national powers were in danger of being ceded to Brussels.

Mr Cameron’s retreat on announcing a referendum on the newly ratified treaty has led to accusations of breaking his promise and betraying the British people.

The Lisbon Treaty is based on the European Constitution, which started at a summit in Brussels in December 2001.

Gordon Brown hailed the Czech signature as “a historic step,” and European leaders said it will create a more powerful EU.

Despite the scale of the changes the treaty makes, the British people have never been directly consulted on the document, which was ratified in a Commons vote and signed by Mr Brown in 2007.

Labour won the 2005 general election having promised a referendum on the European Constitution but then dropped the pledge, arguing that Lisbon was a different document.

The Conservatives gave a “cast-iron” guarantee of a vote on Lisbon.

But after Mr Klaus signed the text, the Tories admitted that they will not offer voters a say on Lisbon.

Mr Hague said that once ratified, the treaty will cease to exist as a distinct legal document, meaning no vote can be held on it.

He said: “Now that the treaty has become European law and is going to enter into force, that means that a referendum can no longer prevent the creation of the president of the European council, the loss of British national vetoes, these things will already have happened, and a referendum cannot unwind them or prevent them.”

Daniel Hannan, a Tory MEP and leading Euro-sceptic said the signing was a step towards a European super-state. “The boot continues to stamp on the human face,” he said.

Mr Hague last night attempted to blame Labour for the treaty’s passage. He said: “People have never been consulted or voted in a general election for this.

“The British people have never even voted once, and we will not let people forget whose responsibility that is.”

Mr Brown insisted that the signing of the treaty was something to celebrate.

How in the world is signing away your sovereignty something to celebrate?
I guess to understand that, one would have to be a politician. 

Now here’s something from the Daily Mail, who are quoting something they got from the Sun, another daily paper.

Today I will give this cast-iron guarantee: If I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations.
No treaty should be ratified without consulting the British people in a referendum.

David Cameron

BUT WAIT!
Mr. Cameron has a get out in that he made clear he was referring to a treaty that had not yet been ratified.

okok ....  LYNDON (shouts peiper) HELP!  Explain this again.

Right now, Cameron is blaming Brown.  I get that part. I think.  But since Cameron did make that statement above, I’m still not clear on this.
So the treaty passes because they now have the number required. Do I have that right?
So then, because the UK is a member of the EU, and since the treaty is ratified, that means that the citizens here are STUCK with the EU like it or not.
Do I have that right?

Great so, where to from here?

Posted by peiper     on 11/04/2009 at 07:53 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • EUro-peons • UK •  
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   Tuesday - October 27, 2009

England: Cultural Death, By Design

The outrageous truth slips out: Labour cynically plotted to transform the entire make-up of Britain without telling us
By Melanie Phillips

So now the cat is well and truly out of the bag. For years, as the number of immigrants to Britain shot up apparently uncontrollably, the question was how exactly this had happened.

Was it through a fit of absent-mindedness or gross incompetence? Or was it not inadvertent at all, but deliberate?

The latter explanation seemed just too outrageous. After all, a deliberate policy of mass immigration would have amounted to nothing less than an attempt to change the very make-up of this country without telling the electorate.

There could not have been a more grave abuse of the entire democratic process. Now, however, we learn that this is exactly what did happen. The Labour government has been engaged upon a deliberate and secret policy of national cultural sabotage.

This astonishing revelation surfaced quite casually last weekend in a newspaper article by one Andrew Neather. He turns out to have been a speech writer for Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett.

And it was he who wrote a landmark speech in September 2000 by the then immigration minister, Barbara Roche, that called for a loosening of immigration controls. But the true scope and purpose of this new policy was actively concealed.

In its 1997 election manifesto, Labour promised ‘firm control over immigration’ and in 2005 it promised a ‘crackdown on abuse’. In 2001, its manifesto merely said that the immigration rules needed to reflect changes to the economy to meet skills shortages.

But all this concealed a monumental shift of policy. For Neather wrote that until ‘at least February last year’, when a new points-based system was introduced to limit foreign workers in response to increasing uproar, the purpose of the policy Roche ushered in was to open up the UK to mass immigration.

This has been achieved. Some 2.3million migrants have been added to the population since 2001. Since 1997, the number of work permits has quadrupled to 120,000 a year.

Unless policies change, over the next 25 years some seven million more will be added to Britain’s population, a rate of growth three times as fast as took place in the Eighties.

Such an increase is simply unsustainable. Britain is already one of the most overcrowded countries in Europe. But now look at the real reason why this policy was introduced, and in secret. The Government’s ‘driving political purpose’, wrote Neather, was ‘to make the UK truly multicultural’.

It was therefore a politically motivated attempt by ministers to transform the fundamental make-up and identity of this country. It was done to destroy the right of the British people to live in a society defined by a common history, religion, law, language and traditions.

It was done to destroy for ever what it means to be culturally British and to put another ‘multicultural’ identity in its place. And it was done without telling or asking the British people whether they wanted their country and their culture to be transformed in this way.

Spitefully, one motivation by Labour ministers was ‘to rub the Right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date’.

SOURCE.

And the opinions put up at that post show that quite a number of folks support such a plan of action. It’s Revenge Time!

One or two voices can see the big picture. Or what we could call “Coming soon to a theater near you!”

Meanwhile, France ... you remember fwance, right? Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys and all that? Um, maybe, maybe not. They’ve apparently had enough of their “disaffected youths” and are starting up a campaign of nationalism. To fight against islamicism! Vive Le France!! SOURCE. It’s about bloody time.

France is to adopt a series of measures to ‘reaffirm pride’ in the country and combat Islamic fundamentalism.

They include everybody receiving lessons in the nation’s Christian history and children singing the national anthem.

Using words which infuriated ethnic minority groups and Socialist opponents, immigration minister Eric Besson also said he wanted ‘foreigners to speak better French’.

He called for all recent arrivals to be monitored by ‘Republican godfathers’, charged with helping immigrants to integrate better.

His proposed measures contrast sharply with the situation in Britain where ‘citizenship education’ centres on multicultural diversity.

M Besson, who was born in the former French protectorate of Morocco, suggested a debate on national identity’ entitled ‘What does it mean to be French?’

He also reignited the debate about face and body-covering Muslim veils, saying they should definitely be banned.

As well as providing civic lessons for adults - including classes about the country’s Christian history and liberal political institutions - the government will encourage school children to sing the national anthem at least once a year.

His proposed measures contrast sharply with the situation in Britain where ‘citizenship education’ centers on multicultural diversity and the European Union, while ‘God Save The Queen’ is not even taught in schools.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/27/2009 at 04:10 PM   
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   Thursday - October 15, 2009

Italy blamed for deaths of French troops.  Careful, it might not be true. Problem is …

We really don’t know who to believe.  If true it paints a pretty bad picture of how that war is being managed. Or maybe it isn’t being managed among the Italians.  ??  Don’t wanna be too fast on the trigger here.
The fact that this is tomorrows paper is bad enough.

Italy blamed for deaths of French troops after ‘hushing up bribes paid to Taliban’

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 4:27 PM on 15th October 2009

Italy’s secret services have been accused of paying the Taliban thousands of dollars to keep an area in Afghanistan controlled by the Italians safe.

Rome was also accused of hushing up the bribes, keeping them secret from Nato allies - meaning that when France took over the same area, Paris misread the security situation there.

Shortly afterwards, ten French soldiers were killed in a shock ambush that had massive political repercussions in Paris.

Today Italy’s defence minister slammed the report, printed in the Times newspaper, as ‘rubbish’.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s office called the report ‘completely groundless’.

The Times reported that Italy had paid ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ to Taliban commanders and warlords in the Surobi district, east of the capital, Kabul.

The newspaper cites Western military officials, including high-ranking officers at Nato accused Rome of failing to inform its allies, misleading the French, who took over the Surobi district in mid-2008, into thinking the area was quiet and safe.

Then, the French contingent was hit with the ambush. It was one of the single biggest losses of life suffered by Nato forces in Afghanistan.
Nato spokesman James Appathurai and French government officials refused to comment on the report.

‘The Berlusconi government has never authorized nor has it allowed any form of payment toward members of the Taliban insurgence,’ a statement by the premier’s office said.

It says it does not know of any such payment by the previous government.

Berlusconi won elections in April 2008, replacing a centre-left government headed by Romano Prodi.

The statement noted that in the first half of last year the Italian contingent suffered several attacks, including in the Surobi district where one soldier was killed in February 2008.

Defenve Minister Ignazio La Russa fired back at the Times, saying the newspaper ‘collects rubbish’.

In an interview with Corriere della Sera, La Russa said that in the summer of 2008 ‘I had been minister for a short time, I’ve never received news from the secret services of payment to the chiefs of the Taliban.’

La Russa said that a benevolent attitude toward the Italians who serve in Afghanistan is due to ‘the behavior of our military, which is very different compared to that of other contingents’.

‘They have always showed they are close to the people and they get the same in return,’ La Russa said of the Italian soldiers.

‘To connect all of this with the death of the French soldiers ... seems an absurdity to me.’

Italy has about 2,800 soldiers stationed in Herat and in the capital of Kabul.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 10/15/2009 at 12:00 PM   
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   Wednesday - October 07, 2009

On orders from the EU Super State? Get this. They want England to give up border control.

Not that there’s much to give up anymore considering the rate on immigrants legal and otherwise and yuman rights of ppl who sneak in.

One of my first observations after being here for a week or two was that the Brits seemed to be in a hurry to give away their country. Fortunately that is not true of all of em.  There are a few who are resisting. And many who have left.

Anyway ... these two very brief articles caught my attention today and I thought ah ha.  I was right to be banging on about sovereignty as often as I have.  It wasn’t an illusion.

The first article is really an aside. I just wanted to show you how serious the EU bullies are, and so am only posting the headline and a link if you’re interested in the rest.  But the second one is a mind blower actually seeing it made public.  Not that folks didn’t know already.

EU puts pressure on Czech Republic over Lisbon Treaty signing
In a meeting in Brussels the EU is putting pressure on the Czech Republic over the refusal by the country’s president to sign the Lisbon Treaty

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6268417/EU-puts-pressure-on-Czech-Republic-over-Lisbon-Treaty-signing.html

Interesting perhaps but no surprise. No surprise on the next one either BUT ....

Benelux countries seek to stop Tony Blair becoming EU President
Tony Blair’s bid to become the EU’s first President is facing fresh resistance after the Benelux countries sought to block a Briton from taking the post.

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels and Nick Squires in Rome
Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Oct 2009

Britain is regarded by Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as too Eurosceptic and not sufficiently pro-EU to take the new job which is created by the Lisbon Treaty.

A confidential paper, which does not mention Mr Blair by name, has been circulated by the three countries.

European diplomats have deciphered the language as ruling out Mr Blair because Britain is not sufficiently committed to the EU as it is not a member of the euro zone or given up its border controls.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6266300/Benelux-countries-seek-to-stop-Tony-Blair-becoming-EU-President.html

What next?  If they beat the Brits into the ground on border control maybe next they’ll demand the USA do the same with Mexico.
Oh right. I forgot. There isn’t much there anyway.

Posted by peiper     on 10/07/2009 at 06:43 AM   
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EU draws up plans to establish itself as ‘world power, according to headlines in morning paper.

OK BMEWS, flame me if you must but this concerns me a lot more then the issue of China and Tibet.
I don’t think the EU will launch a war against anyone soon unless it’s economic.  But say what you will about the commies in China, at least you know (generally) where they stand.  Easy to spot what with their red flags and all.  Guess I’m just so anti EU I’ve become a bit blind to much else. That might be wrong of me but that’s how things are at least at this moment in time.

The European Union has drawn up secret plans to establish itself as a global power in its own right with the authority to sign international agreements on behalf of member states.

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Published: 7:00AM BST 07 Oct 2009

Confidential negotiations on how to implement the Lisbon Treaty have produced proposals to allow the EU to negotiate treaties and even open embassies across the world.

A letter conferring a full “legal personality” for the Union has been drafted in order for a new European diplomatic service to be recognised as fully fledged negotiators by international bodies and all non-EU countries.
According to one confidential paper, the first pilot “embassies” are planned in New York, Kabul and Addis Ababa.

The move is highly symbolic in Britain as it formally scraps the “European Community”, the organisation that Britons originally voted to join in the country’s only referendum on Europe 34 years ago.

Mark Francois, Conservative spokesman on Europe, said that the deal showed why the British should have been given a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
“As we have long warned, the Lisbon Treaty increases the EU’s power at the expense of the countries of Europe,” he said. “The new power a single legal personality would give the EU is a classic example.  “It illustrates why it is wrong for Labour to try to deny the British people any say on this Treaty at all.”

The decision, taken shortly before Ireland’s referendum last week, will mean a new European diplomatic service with over 160 “EU representations” and ambassadors across the world.  Lorraine Mullally, the director of Open Europe, described the move as “a huge transfer of power which makes the EU look more like a country than an international agreement”.

“Giving the EU legal personality means that the EU, rather than member states, will be able to sign all kinds of international agreements – on foreign policy, defence, crime and judicial issues – for the first time,” she said.

She pointed out that the 1975 referendum was on joining the EC and that it is the European Communities Act that gives Brussels legislation primacy over British law.
“British voters agreed to join the European Communities, not a political union with legal personality with the power to sign all kinds of international agreements,” said Miss Mullally. “No one under the age of 52 has ever had a say on this important evolution and it’s about time we did.”

A restricted document circulated by the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, seen by The Daily Telegraph, spells out the need for legal changes to set up a European External Service (EEAS), an EU diplomatic and foreign service with “global geographical scope”.
The paper said: “The EEAS will need a legal status providing it with functional legal personality so that it has sufficient autonomy.
“This legal personality should also give it the capacity to act as necessary to carry out (its) tasks.”

A British diplomat defended the decision. “The EU has been able to sign treaties for over a decade. The innovation under the Lisbon Treaty is that the European Community will cease to have legal personality. This is about simplification,” she said.
Brussels ambassadors yesterday (TUES) began detailed work, in secret, to create new institutions, the EEAS, “foreign minister” and EU President, that are to be set up under the Lisbon Treaty.

Decisions “in principle” will be taken despite the fact that both Poland and the Czech Republic have not yet fully ratified the new EU Treaty.
The creation of the EEAS has sparked a bitter Brussels turf war. The European Commission could lose up to 1,424 senior staff from three departments.

Another 400 staff will be taken from the Council of the EU and an “equivalent” number will be seconded from national diplomatic services.
The EEAS will take over Commission representations – there are currently more than 160 offices around the world – and its senior diplomats will be given the same status as national ambassadors.

SOURCE: 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews

Posted by peiper     on 10/07/2009 at 01:54 AM   
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   Tuesday - October 06, 2009

The result in Ireland shows that Europe’s usurpers have succeeded.

H/T LyndonB

This is too good and too important for me to ignore.  I did see it the other day and like so much around me I got lost in other things.  So thanks Lyndon for the reminder.

We Americans should not look at this and feel too smug and think oh well.  Silly Brits and Europeans. Their problem.  Ho-Hum.
This is NOT a yawner people.  This is what’s happening here, and do not think that a central European state (even if Blair becomes the unelected president of Europe) will necessarily become our bosom buddy.  On the other hand, just to confuse the issue, I have read and heard in radio analysis of the news, that Tony Blair is madly in love with everything American and so the USA will have a good friend in Europe.  ??

I would not fault any country for looking out for their own interests.  We usually do the same. Mostly not perhaps but some do try.
I just wonder about this and how it could affect my own country.

It’s well worth reading ALL of it.

The deed is done. Ireland has been coerced at a moment of acute distress into accepting an EU treaty that emasculates the Irish Supreme Court and that voters have already rejected once.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Eurosceptics always feared that the mechanisms of monetary union would force recalcitrant states to knuckle down in the end. This has occurred exactly as they predicted. Only a fool can believe that the Irish people have genuinely embraced the European Constitution (now Lisbon) as a “positive good”. They acquiesced with their backs against the wall.

The Irish economy contracted by 11.6pc in the 12 months to June. Nominal GDP shrank by nearer 13pc, which is what matters for debt dynamics. It is not for outsiders to judge those such as radio star Eamon Dunphy for switching sides to save “jobs and livelihoods”. The country is in deep depression.

The reason why this crisis is so grave is intimately tied to euro membership, even if this is not obvious to Irish voters. They appear to have believed the great lie – repeated by Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary – that Europe saved their country from Iceland’s fate. It did no such such thing.

Iceland’s economy contracted by 6.5pc to June (less than Germany) and is already turning the corner. Exports are surging. Unemployment fell in August to 7.7pc. Such is the magic of a floating currency. The plunging krone acted as a shock absorber. Icelandic society remains in tact.

The euro did indeed shield Ireland from the storm, but it is not the storm that does the damage – any more than 1929 crash caused the Depression. The country no longer has the means in EMU to counter debt deflation, as will become painfully clear over the next two years. It has become a laboratory for the roll-back of the modern welfare state.

There is something demented about this Lisbon drive. The EU has already pushed the integration of Europe’s states beyond viable limits. It obsesses over institutional machinery even as it ignores the social crisis of youth unemployment at 39pc in Spain, 31pc in Lithuania, 28pc in Latvia, 26pc in Ireland and Slovakia, 25pc in Italy and Hungary, 24pc in France.

It cannot run Europe’s fisheries, farms, aid projects, and budget with a minimum of competence. Yet it presses for more and is willing to sell its political soul to get its way. “The EU seems blind to a central insight of liberal democratic thought – that the means of reaching public decisions are just as important as the ends,” says Oxford professor Larry Siedentop.

The means were to ignore the verdict of the French and Dutch people when they voted no to the original text in 2005, with half Europe waiting do exactly the same had Brussels not called off the kill for the sake of decency.

Common sense called for a halt then. But no, they tried to slip it through by parliamentary majorities in the House of Commons, Holland’s Tweede Kamer, Denmark’s Folketing, and France’s Chambre, with the specific and sole of purpose of denying citizens the chance to express their will, confirming what we long suspected – that the EU’s authoritarian habits are spreading to our national legislatures. Dublin alone was left grapple with its voters, obliged to do so by its Supreme Court. And when they too said no last year, the political classes refused to accept the verdict yet again.

It is worth remembering how this Lisbon monster came to life. It was supposed to be the answer to the Danish and Swedish no votes to EMU, the Irish no to Nice, and anti-EU riots that set Gothenburg in flames.

Henceforth, there would be no more stitch-ups. The Laeken Declaration in 2001 acknowledged that the EU was seen by the peoples as “a threat to their identity”, that “deals are all too often cut out of their sight”, that there was no appetite for “a European superstate or European institutions inveigling their way into every nook and cranny of life.” It spoke of returning powers to the member states. A convention – modelled on Philadelphia – would draw up an EU constitution to restore “democratic legitimacy”.

What then happened? The EU insiders hijacked the process. Dissident utterings were silenced in the working groups. A praesidium under super-elitist Valéry Giscard d’Estaing employed Commission lawyers to draft the wording. The final text called for an EU president, foreign minister, justice department, a supreme court with jurisdiction over all areas of EU policy for the first time, and fresh powers to enter yet more nooks and crannies – in other words, the apparatus of an aspirant state. And this how it remains in Lisbon disguise.

“The convention failed: it was a self-selected group of the European political elite,” said Gisela Stuart, Britain’s member on the praesidium. The experience was enough to turn her into fervent opponent of Lisbon.

The methods being used to force this treaty through after electorates have already spoken cross a line that may not be crossed. The European Project has become the enemy.

This is the treaty that Gordon Brown was too ashamed to sign in public with fellow EU leaders in Lisbon. Yet sign he did.

The question for David Cameron is whether he will continue this practice, or take a stand before any more pages are ripped out of our own Magna Carta. Go on, David, sock the usurpers between the eyes.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 10/06/2009 at 07:46 AM   
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   Sunday - October 04, 2009

I have a message for German chancellor Angela Merkel.  Pssst.  Hey. Go invade Russia.

Right. That’s my message to Merkel.  Do something useful and stay out of Brit politics.

Go pick a fight with with the Poles or something. She’s upset because Cameron just may (Brits aren’t holding their collective breath tho) give in to the voters and allow what was PROMISED to them a few years ago.  And they are still waiting.

One of things I find endlessly fascinating is that in a speech given in late 1944 or 1945, Hitler predicted some of this.  Of course he missed the mark on his prediction of a war between us and the Soviets.  Which could have happened as we now know. And ppl of my generation almost always expected it.  But he did comment on the strength of a rebuilt Germany calling the shots and the strength of the Bundesbank.
I recall snippets of the speech but not the whole thing.  But he clearly said that a Europe united as one state (my words) would only be able to function with a strong Germany at it’s center.

Well, what many see happening these days and what a lot of people fear, is a united European superstate calling the shots for everyone. 

I will end my comments here with what Peter Hitchens has written today on the subject.

We in Britain, like Ireland, have constantly been warned that by staying out we would miss the European train – always depicted as a luxury express bound for a pleasant destination and more or less under our control.

Now, as the whistle blows, the doors are locked and the Eurotrain at last jolts out of the station, we look around us and see threadbare seats and through grimy windows glimpse an unfamiliar and unpleasant landscape, and when we ask where we are going, the crew tell us that from now on, that is their business, not ours.

German chancellor Angela Merkel fury at Cameron ‘hostility to EU’ as she downgrades ties with Tories
By Ian Drury

EU fall-out: David Cameron has angered German politicians over his ‘hostile’ stance to Europe and is at loggerheads with German politicians over his stance on Europe.

They were devastated by the Tory leader’s threat to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which was masterminded in Berlin.
Chancellor Angela Merkel was also angered by Mr Cameron’s decision to remove Conservative MEPs from the federalist European People’s Party group in Brussels.

In retaliation, her ruling centre-right Christian Democrat CDU party has downgraded relations with the Tories.
She has axed three joint policy groups - on the environment, security and economic competitiveness - and an annual meeting between the parties.
She is furious that Mr Cameron has carried out his 2005 pledge to align his MEPs with a new right-wing group in the European Parliament.

And the German chancellor is unhappy at his refusal to buy into the European ‘project’ - especially his outbursts against the Lisbon Treaty.

One insider told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: ‘The Tories don’t understand how seriously the Germans take this. Some of the CDU politicians have been reduced to tears.’

Critics warned that the severed ties meant the Tories risked losing influence in Europe.

Conservative grandee Lord Brittan, a former European Commissioner, said policy groups and meetings were vital to building relationships.
He said: ‘They are important, because how do you get influence in the European Union? You do it by building up alliances, by talking to people and you don’t do it overnight. You can’t just turn up at a meeting and say “This is what I want”.

MORE HERE

Hey folks ... this is all ya need to understand.

The Lisbon Treaty, which was masterminded in Berlin.

Posted by peiper     on 10/04/2009 at 09:36 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • Government • Jack Booted Thugs • Tyrants and Dictators • UK •  
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Blair can’t be allowed to become the next Napoleon…

Another headline in this morning’s Sunday Mail reads as follows.

So as Ireland votes ‘yes’ to Lisbon treaty, our 1000 years of history ends like this

It is not over yet but might be close.  As you read the comments by the Conservative leader David Cameron, I think unless you’re a Brit you’ll be as lost as I am to fully understand what Cameron is saying.

LYNDON ..... HELP?  What does this mean in plain Engrish?

“‘If the Treaty is ratified, we would not let matters rest there. But we have one policy at a time and we will set out how we would proceed in those circumstances if, and only if, they happen.”

Blair can’t be allowed to become the next Napoleon… and don’t even ask about Cherie Antoinette

By Simon Walters, Simon Mcgee and Brendan Carlin
October 4, 2009
Sunday Mail

Boris Johnson put himself at the head of a Tory Euro revolt yesterday by demanding a referendum on whether Tony Blair should be the ‘big magnifico’ President of Europe.

The London Mayor threw down the gauntlet to David Cameron after the Conservative leader declined to give a cast-iron pledge to call a referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty if it is ratified by the rest of Europe before the next Election.

Mr Johnson demanded a referendum not just on the Lisbon Treaty, but on whether the UK should pull out of Europe altogether.

‘A referendum would send out a clear message that we do not want a badly thought-out treaty imposed on us without the chance to vote on it,’ Mr Johnson told The Mail on Sunday.

‘It also sends the message that we don’t want some big magnifico swanning round the globe purporting to be acting on our behalf when we haven’t even been consulted as to whether it should be Tony Blair or not.’

Mr Johnson denied that his surprise move was an attempt to undermine Mr Cameron on the eve of the Conservative conference in Manchester, which starts today.

Mr Cameron said if the Treaty is not ratified by the Election, he will go ahead with a referendum if he wins power. However, if it is ratified by then, he said he would ‘not let matters rest there’ – prompting claims he might call off a referendum.

Mr Johnson had no such reservations. ‘I have the solution,’ he declared. ‘What we have got to do is to have a referendum. If Tony Blair is going to be President of Europe, I want a referendum on the matter, and a lot of people will agree with me.
Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson is calling for a referendum on the EU president

‘The British people are entitled to one – and they were certainly promised one. It doesn’t mean the answer has to be “no” but it would be very interesting to hear the arguments.

‘There should be two questions: are you in favour of the Lisbon Treaty and are you in favour of remaining in the EU?’

The Mayor said he would campaign for the UK to stay in Europe but believed that the Lisbon Treaty should be torn up.

Mr Cameron said: ‘I have said repeatedly that I want us to have a referendum. If the Treaty is not ratified in all Member States and is not in force when the Election is held, and if we are elected, we will hold a referendum and lead the campaign for a “No” vote.

‘If the Treaty is ratified, we would not let matters rest there. But we have one policy at a time and we will set out how we would proceed in those circumstances if, and only if, they happen.’

MORE HERE

No matter who becomes President of Europe, and people that will be the official title if the treaty is finally forced thru, here is what the estimated cost will be for the new fuhrer. 
My source for the following information was the Daily Mail on Saturday. Sorry, no link to the following available.  I had to copy it from the paper. 

LIFE OF LUXURY FOR ‘PRESIDENT BLAIR?’

Here’s what the Brits could be helping to pay for, along with other european txpayers.

There is NO job description;
nothing on how long a person will serve, nor any details on how the successful candidate will be remunerated.
But he or she will almost certainly be paid as much as European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.  His pay-and-perks package is:

Salary:  £269,246 a year
Residence allowance:  £40,390 a year
Entertainment allowance:  £15,635 a year

Resettlement allowance (when he leaves the post) £22,441
Transitional allowance (to help his re-entry into the non-EU world) £403,956

PENSION:  £57,557 A YEAR.

Brussels has been reluctant to say what the position entails.

Posted by peiper     on 10/04/2009 at 02:45 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • Government • Corruption and Greed • Inflation and High Prices • International • Nanny State •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Saturday - October 03, 2009

AWFUL NEWS FOR THE ENGLISH …. IRELAND VOTES ‘YES’ ON EU IN SECOND VOTE.

How do ya like the way they do things here?  Neat huh?  Keep voting till Euros get the vote wanted the first time.

I’m not much on conspiracies but I tend to believe those who make the claim that Ireland was bullied or bribed this time around.

Tony Blair it is believed, is a shoe in for the new office of President of the EU.

IRELAND SAYS ‘YES’ TO THE EU.

(oh yes,yes,yes. screw me,screw me. GAK)

Irish prime minister Brian Cowen has announced Ireland’s acceptance of the EU Lisbon treaty today.

Early results and exit polls from yesterday’s referendum indicate Ireland has decisively voted “Yes”, paving the way for a radical shake-up of the EU.

Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen, whose government has backed the treaty, heralded the victory saying it would bring about “a stronger and fairer Ireland and Europe”.

In a brief statement to reporters Cowen said: “The Irish people have spoken with a clear and resounding voice,”

Hey hold the phone there a minute.  Didn’t they do that only recently?  I do believe they did. I guess it didn’t count.

Just so you folks back home know.  The latest Pro EU vote was very well financed and very heavily promoted by people OUTSIDE Ireland, who came to that place from Brussels (to name one place) and organized the vote the way they wanted it.  I guess the people will see in time if they made a mistake.
Hey .. not to worry.  If they find they did in fact make a mistake, I’m sure they’ll get out. Of course, EU troops will have to occupy the country as IRA types start making devices of persuasion.

Here’s a link for the rest of the story should you be interested.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6859979.ece

Cheers and enjoy the wkend.

Posted by peiper     on 10/03/2009 at 11:02 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • Politics •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Thursday - October 01, 2009

EU SAYS GEORGIA STARTED WAR WITH RUSSIA BUT, AND JAPAN HAS MEIN KAMPF COMIC BOOK

A couple of interesting News Briefs caught my eye.  One I understand, Mein Kampf.  One I don’t.

I suppose using a comic book to teach history isn’t new. For some, it might be the only way or at least the easiest way, to learn a subject.
So ok. Mein Kampf the comic book could be seen as instructional.

Sales of a comic version of Adolf Hitler’s notorious political tract Mein Kampf have become a hit in Japan.
By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo

The manga book describes both Hitler’s autobiography and his infamous Nazi manifesto in the unlikely form of easy-to-read comic pictures and captions.
Since it was published in Japan last November, its popularity has soared, with sales of more than 45,000.

The book, which forms part of a series on world classics turned into manga, covers a range of aspects of Hitler’s life, from his childhood to the formation of his political party.

Its success in Japan has reportedly ignited a debate in Germany about whether the ban on the work imposed since 1945 should be overturned.
The current copyright of the book within Germany lies in the hands of the finance ministry of the state of Bavaria which will not reproduce it out of respect to the relatives of those who suffered during Hitler’s regime.

Japanese publishers East Press are no strangers to tapping into the trend of bringing political tracts into the 21st century: the current series also includes a popular manga version of Karl Marx’s seminal anti-capitalist tome Das Kapital.

Manga enjoys a soaring popularity in Japan, with its most high-profile fans including the former prime minister Taro Aso.

Along with Nazism and anti-capitalism, there are few topics that are regarded as sacred from being transformed into manga. Previous issues tackled range from delicate Japanese-Chinese relations to the spread of bird flu.|

SOURCE

H/T Inventorspot.com for the photo used. More on the subject here as well : INVENTORSPOT.COM

Here’s just a brief overview. See the link for all of it.  One of the reasons I even bothered about it to begin with, was because the EU seems to be giving with one hand and taking with another.

If as the EU says, and they do say, that Georgia started the war with Russia, then how can they be critical of the Russians who the EU says were attacked, for invading Georgia?  Well that’s what they’re saying.  In other words, do not in any circumstances defend yourself.  ?? Oh wait. I just got it. Silly me.

Maybe what the EU was waiting for, was for the Russians to issue an Anti Social Behavior Order (ASBO) on the Georgians. Of course. That’s it.

EU blames Georgia for starting war with Russia

Georgia “illegally” started last year’s war with Russia but Moscow then “violated” international law by invading its neighbour in response to the attack, a European Union report has found.

By Bruno Waterfield
Published: 4:17PM BST 30 Sep 2009

An EU investigation into the roots of last August’s conflict has reserved its harshest criticism for Georgia’s military assault on the breakaway region of South Ossetia and its capital Tskhinvali.

“Open hostilities began with a large-scale Georgian military operation against the town of Tskhinvali and the surrounding areas, launched in the night of 7 to 8 August 2008, the report concluded.

“There is the question of whether the use of force by Georgia in South Ossetia was justifiable under international law. It was not.”

SOURCE FOR THE REST CLICK HERE

Posted by peiper     on 10/01/2009 at 09:15 AM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • War-Stories •  
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   Tuesday - September 29, 2009

Americans are ‘illiterate’ about climate change, claims expert.

Right. All it takes for Americans to be illiterate about any subject, is to not see it from the pov of the left.
This is one of the stories on America that appears today in the foreign press.
And there is NO chance at all that this fellow could possibly be mistaken. Just ask him.

According to one hack, America’s lack of knowledge on climate change could prevent the world from reaching an agreement to stop catastrophic global warming.  WOO-HOO

America’s lack of knowledge on climate change could prevent the world from reaching an agreement to stop catastrophic global warming, scientists said in an attack on the country’s environmental policy.

Professor John Schellnhuber, one of the world’s leading global warming experts, described the US as “climate illiterate”

He said Americans have a lower understanding of the problems of climate change than people in Brazil or China..

More than 100 scientists are meeting at Oxford University to discuss the dangers of climate change causing droughts, floods and mass extinctions around the world.

The conference is designed to put pressure on world leaders coming together at the end of the year for the “most important meeting in the history of the human species”.

The UN Climate Change Conference in December will try to reach an international deal on cutting carbon emissions so global warming stays below an increase of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels.

Prof Schellnhuber, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change, said the chance of getting such a deal was “pie in the sky” because rich countries like America are unwilling to sign up to ambitious enough targets.

“In a sense the US is climate illiterate. If you look at global polls about what the public knows about climate change even in Brazil, China you have more people who know about the problem and think deep cuts in emissions are needed,” he said.

“Why can’t we save the world without the US?”

MORE HERE

Well that’d be a first professor. Please, be our guest.

If you look at global polls about what the public knows about climate change

What the public knows, or what the public has been indoctrinated to believe? So far, the ppl who do not see it all in the same light, have been very slow to produce a movie shown round the world and with much hoopla. In fact ... no movie at all. Maybe it’s time. 

Posted by peiper     on 09/29/2009 at 04:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Colleges-Professors • Environment • EUro-peons •  
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   Thursday - September 17, 2009

Britain and France were never meant to be on the same side. From a former diplomat.

The Telegraph is running a series of double page articles over the next couple of weeks, that have to do with this damned European Union of which England is a member.  It has been quite an interesting and lengthy read so far, and educational.
This is merely one tiny portion of one part of one page.
Lyndon will LOVE this but I hope you’ll find some interest here as well.

rosbifs Nope. I haven’t a clue what those letters stand for.  But Mr. Collard does and I guess maybe that’s all that matters. (said with sarcasm)
But never mind.  This is interesting.  Except that I didn’t meet the charming people he refers to as I didn’t keep the same company he did and more likely still does.

EU: Britain and France were never meant to be on the same side
During my time in the Foreign Office it was my aim (achieved) to go through my whole career without setting foot in Brussels.

By Tim Collard
Published: 7:30AM BST 16 Sep 2009

I have always imagined Belgium’s capital as a homogeneous Europhiliac monoculture, where thoughtcrime can be sniffed at fifty paces and UKIP can’t get served in the bars. Europe was strictly for those of high career aspirations and even higher boredom thresholds, and I had neither.

My main experience of Euro-diplomacy was at our Embassy in China, where I sat on the EU Coordinating Committee, where we “coordinated” our position on issues of common concern. This opened my eyes to the realities of EU “partnership”; genuine transnational politics is still some way away.

If the Germans’ dog-like devotion to all things EU reflects a sincere commitment to the renunciation of war in Europe, the French seem to see the EU as a continuation of the Hundred Years War by other means. Among the strategic priorities of French foreign policy, getting one up on the rosbifs is certainly prominent.

It starts with the eternal battle over language. It is written in the sacred scriptures of the EU that English and French have equal status as working languages, and all French diplomats are under instructions to conduct business in French when it is their turn to chair anything. This of course triggers passive resistance; our diplomats are all supposed to speak French, though some don’t and others conceal it, and the French are doing well if they can get 10 minutes into the meeting without everyone lapsing into English. The arrival in 1995 of various Scandiwegians sealed victory for Britain, as most of them couldn’t manage so much as a parley-voo, and no doubt the struggle is now utterly hopeless.

Dealing with China presented endless opportunities for one-upmanship. In the early Nineties it was all about holding a unified line on trade sanctions against China after Tiananmen Square. As at that time the Chinese only bought anything if we lent them the money to do so at negligible interest, these sanctions didn’t hurt us much, and the French took the hardest line in enforcing them. This was, naturellement, because they had found a devious way round them, involving fudging dates on contracts, and wanted the rest of us bound all the tighter.

When China’s economic situation improved, our hosts became worth sucking up to. Since 1990 the EU had brought an annual resolution before the UN Human Rights Commission condemning human rights abuses in China. In 1997 this position was being reviewed; not because the human rights situation had improved, but because the rewards available for sucking up certainly had.

The declared aim was to arrive at a united EU position. This proved difficult to achieve, and negotiations stretched over the rest of the year. But with a united position all 15 of us would benefit equally; it became steadily clearer that the Quai d’Orsay wanted to contrive a competitive advantage.

Deadline day drew near with no decision reached; all the blocking moves came from Paris. By this time one or two partners, principally the Dutch and Danes, had committed themselves to tabling the human rights motion, and as one of them (I forget which) held the rotating presidency, the proposal was formally put.

Once more than half of us had agreed, the French announced that they would not sign up, as no proper agreement had been reached. The Germans and Club Med chancers rushed to join them. Thus the French advantage was obtained, and the Dutch and Danes got a good commercial kicking from the Chinese.

All attempts to remonstrate with the French for this behaviour were brushed aside with Gallic insouciance. I was reminded of this episode when Tony Blair was persuaded to concede on the UK contributions rebate in return for a promised review of the CAP, with Chirac smirking away and saying afterwards that he would make sure the review didn’t change anything.

I’m no francophobe; I love the country, the charming, cultured people, the relaxed attitude to working, and the browsing and sluicing. But we were never meant to be on the same side. As for real EU partnership, we’ll never see that this century.

SOURCE IS HERE

Next Up:

EU: is Britain still a sovereign state?
EU membership has led to deep constitutional changes in the UK. But it would be wrong to say that we have been robbed of our sovereignty, says Philip Johnston. Our government has been an accomplice all the way .

Posted by peiper     on 09/17/2009 at 08:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials • Education • EUro-peons • Government • UK •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Tuesday - September 15, 2009

Multiculturalism: Europeans’ Guillotined From Their Cultures. Is America next? a must read.

If mass immigration continues adding 200,000 more people from disparate cultures from around the world into the USA monthly and well over 2.4 million annually—they will displace our national language, our culture and our way of life.

The United States speeds toward becoming a dysfunctional, unstable and hopelessly multicultural civilization. The metaphor of the Tower of Babel explains our plight.

And that’s how the article at Europe News ends.  BMEWS, you just have to read this.
H/T EUROPE NEWS

Multiculturalism: Europeans’ Guillotined From Their Cultures

OfficialWire
By Frosty Wooldridge

If you look at the horrendous social consequences growing in France, United Kingdom, Holland, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Canada and elsewhere—you cannot wonder who dreamed up the concept of ‘multiculturalism’. Did they take into account human nature? Anthropological realities? Different tribes? Antagonistic cultures?

Immigrant citizens now bomb subways in England, trains in Spain, riots in Sweden and create growing slums in Amsterdam.
Given enough time, every human tribe attempts to become dominant. By sheer numbers, cultures work toward power. Notice that major religions like Catholics attempt to become dominant.

You may observe Mormons sending their kids out across the world for two years to add more numbers. Muslims invaded Europe centuries ago, but suffered defeat. Today, Libya’s Kaddafi said, “Allah smiles upon us in that we do not need to bomb or conquer Europe. Islam will become the dominant culture by mid century by peaceful immigration.”

Sweden, called the most successful society on this planet, recently suffered horrific clashes from its growing Muslim population that hates Jews. Instead of enjoying a tennis match with Israel in Malpo, Sweden, Swedish-Muslims firebombed and threatened to kill the Jews. You may see the results of multiculturalism here.

If not for those Muslim immigrants, the tennis matched would have been enjoyed by all Swedes! With 70 percent unemployment among Muslims, crime exploded, rapes tripled--but the local Islam imam said, “The best Islamic state in the world is Sweden!”
If you look into British society, you find two distinct and separate sections of once peaceful England. Muslims don’t like the British and the British tolerate the Muslims.

The same separation occurs in France. A French reader, Brigitte, said. “I believe the unfettered immigration into the USA is but one aspect of the “divide and conquer” rule of imperialism. As long as immigrants from all over the world are permitted to remain in the US, the “living space” (Lebensraum of the Nazis) they occupy--is denied English-speaking U.S. citizens.

“The multiculturalism that is being promoted creates resentment in the Anglo-Americans, which they dare not voice because it’s not politically correct to do so. It exists nevertheless and is building pressure and could one day find expression in brutality, perhaps mass slaughter, towards all aliens.

“Meanwhile the Puerto Rican Day parade is only one of a great number, each country having its own day and parade to display nationalistic and cultural pride in their country of origin and woe to whoever grumbles.

“This two-part policy is effective in feeding resentment on the part of the Anglo-Americans, contempt for the Anglos on the part of the immigrants, and thus the success in keeping all people of different origins estranged from one another is achieved.

“As long as Anglo-Americans are kept down by the multicultural ideology, they will not find common ground with the aliens, or alien-looking people. So the unity that would give strength to the people (united we stand) will never happen and imperialism will flourish. Here in France it’s just the same.”

My Mexican antagonist, Subcommandante Pedro read my latest column. He responded:

“In Boulder, Colorado, where I formerly taught school-rich, white, liberal mothers, driving $50,000 SUVs, sported bumper stickers that read, “Celebrate Diversity”. However, they drove their kids to all white schools away from legal immigrant enclaves that overwhelmed area schools.”

“Stupid, racist, lazy white cows! It is because of idiots like this that La Raza will emerge victorious. These are the dumbasses that voted our beloved Obama in on a landslide. Don’t worry Mr. Frosty, when the time comes these will be the first to go. They’ll probably still be talking about the “joys of tolerance” as the guillotine drops. Dumb stupid honkeys! God Bless America LMFMAO (Second “M” stands for “Mexican")!” Cordially, SubComandante Pedro, MeCHA Brown Berets Infiltration Brigades, LA, Alta CA, Aztlan

Another reader said, “In my view until we speak from our historical voice as the founding Nation of this country we do not have the standing that is necessary to even be listened to let alone have any power and influence. Especially concerning the all important policy of immigration! We are now the only community that has no name and no standing in the current environment of radical transformation of the U.S.! We are under a savage assault in every sector that determines a peoples’ identity and past! It is led by our own institutions and leaders. The ideology and game plan is one crafted by these transnational ethnic/religious elites.

“Now we have the parent of our Democratic Republic, England, trying to stamp out the capacity of the native English to defend their country, civilization, identity, and past against the assault meant to destroy all of these Nation building and preservation dynamics and values!”

This reader wrote, “Your efforts and the knowledge you give to people is very appreciated. There are not many honest men as you left anymore it seems--not on the subject of the illegals--since the profits are so vast and so enticing.

“I am a student at one of the biggest illegals running factories probably in the nation. The school is Metropolitan State College of Denver. I have been sworn at in online classes, and insulted. The professors are so in the agenda of the college that they allow even profane comments to be made to students who say anything even remotely against their agenda for the illegals. If you are a Caucasian--you better be prepared to denounce your ethnicity in order to survive at Metro and get that precious little degree.

“Everyone who is ‘White” at Metro is terrorized--they are all frightened to be put out of the college if they don’t say what is demanded. You know, how the “Whites’ have caused untold suffering to minorities since the beginning of time--and now we must understand and accept our new incoming people--the onslaught of the illegals for the profiteering, looters and robber capitalists.

Read the rest HERE

Posted by peiper     on 09/15/2009 at 09:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials • EUro-peons •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

AS IF THIS ISLAND DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS OF IT’S OWN MAKING ….. NOW THIS?

Honestly folks I’m not certain if this sort of thing is exactly right or of great interest to an American blog site. On the other hand, why not show you how stupid people in power can get over here?
It might make some of you feel better about our own dear country, the USA, and hope things do not go down the same road.
I am talking about national sovereignty. Again.

There was a headline in yesterday’s Telegraph on the front page. I ignored it till today coz there is yet another dipsy doodle moonbat decision made OUTSIDE this country, and hoped that England will follow. Or maybe demand that England will follow.

First ... Under a headline that read EUROPE TO PUSH FOR MORE ASYLUM SEEKERS IN BRITAIN .....
It got me to wondering if they might be secretly doing the same re. the USA. Hey, ya never know. But for now the story is centered here.
The on line headline differs from the hard copy but the story is the same.  And stay here with me cause this isn’t all there is that the masters in the EU want from this island.

EU to appoint human rights commissioner
A powerful new European commissioner for human rights who is expected to push for new protection for asylum seekers and workers is set to be appointed later this year.
By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor
14 Sep 2009

The new commissioner for fundamental rights and social rights is expected to put pressure on Britain to accept more asylum seekers from across Europe. Several Mediterranean countries claim they are being put under undue strain from the increasing numbers of migrants arriving from Africa on their shores.
Pressure groups also warn that the commissioner is likely to push for an end to Britain’s opt-out from the working-time directive which limits the maximum working week to 48 hours.

The establishment of the powerful new role is a centrepiece of the re-election campaign of Jose Manuel Barroso as president of the European Commission. It will put human rights on the same footing as trade, competition and agriculture within the Commission.
Mr Barroso, who is expected to be re-elected on Wednesday, pledged to increase the human rights role of the EU to win the backing of liberal and socialist parties across Europe.

Europe’s previous involvement in the rights of asylum seekers and workers has proved controversial in Britain. It is blamed for controversial legal decisions which have protected the rights of foreign criminals. Business leaders also complain that laws from Brussels have stifled enterprise by imposing unnecessary red tape on employers.

The appointment of the new commissioner is also likely to add pressure on the Conservatives to fundamentally renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Europe if David Cameron is elected Prime Minister. A poll for today’s Daily Telegraph has found that a majority of Britons want a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty – even if the new constitution has already been introduced.

MORE EU MOONBATS

WAIT A MINUTE.  WAIT A MINUTE.  YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET!

Small businesses may suffer from “severe staff shortages” after a landmark ruling allowed workers to claim back holiday time lost to illness.

By Richard Edwards
Published: 1:42PM BST 15 Sep 2009

Lawyers have warned that the European Court of Justice judgement would be open to abuse by dishonest workers who wanted to extend their holiday entitlement.

Under the terms of the ruling, disclosed in The Daily Telegraph, employees could claim they had a cold or flu while on leave — taking the day off sick rather than counting it against their annual leave entitlement.

Roger Helmer MEP, Conservative employment spokesman in the European Parliament, said: “This ruling will create a legal minefield for businesses, particularly small businesses, who have to plan all leave extremely carefully.
“During the summer holidays, this ruling could leave small businesses vulnerable to severe staff shortages.”

Meanwhile employment lawyers said that some firms may choose to reduce holiday allowance for staff as a result of the ruling.
Edward Wanambwa, partner at law firm CM Murray, said: “Many employers will feel frustrated that the ECJ has increased, further, employees rights in this area, particularly at a time when many employers are counting their pennies.

“Some employers may even consider reducing additional contractual holiday entitlements for new employees as a way of offsetting costs associated with annual leave.”
The court ruling made clear that if a “worker does not wish to take annual leave during a period of sick leave, annual leave must be granted to him for a different period”.

It came as a result of a case in Spain, but will be binding on the UK as it is a signatory to the European Working Time Directive.
Katja Hall, the director of human resources policy at the CBI, said: “Many firms already take a common sense and sympathetic approach. But allowing employees to reclassify their holiday as sick leave opens the door to abuse.”

Under the terms of the judgment, employees would even be allowed to carry over any annual leave ruined by illness into the next holiday year.

SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 09/15/2009 at 08:28 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • EUro-peons • UK •  
• Comments (0) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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