European Commission - utter waste of money

[srebbe64]

I went to the Online Exhibition at Olympia, where I bumped into some old friends. Years ago, I used to be on the "Consultative Monitoring Group of DG23". I'd regularly get a Business Class ticket to Brussels, stay in top hotels, hand in my receipts and get paid - for doing absolutely nothing! In the end I got so utterly bored I jacked it in. But some of the waste I observed was mind blowing! Anyway, I saw the Commission were exhibiting at the exhibition. When I read what they were trying to promote I said to them - "it serves no value to anyone". They were not impressed! Why do I mention it, I saw on the News tonight that The UK is offering to ditch some of the annual rebate. Quite frankly, they could save that money ten times over by simply closing 70% of the departments in the Commission.

[esselte]

[dogwatch]

srebbe64 said:

Quite frankly, they could save that money ten times over by simply closing 70% of the departments in the Commission.

You can't do that!!!

What would they do with all the unsackable staff on tax-free salaries and inflation-proof pensions?

[srebbe64]

I kid you not, on one occasion I was late for a meeting. I discretely sat at the back, put on my headphones, spent two or three hours listening to the same old waffle I heard last time. Then it was time for a coffee break and as I walked out the room I realised I was in the wrong meeting. I was accidentally in some 'agricultural harmonisation' group. But it was exactly the same cobblers !!

[matchless]

hmmmmmmm EU, Foreign State, no relavence here according to the Queen (Head of State), therefore Feck off Foregners!, ref Magne Carta, English Bil Of Rights act and Coronation Oath, nuff said Johhny Foreigners?, now just Feck off good Sir like all the other Foreigners theres a good chappie, they really are so basic, illiterate and gross, and course of course, Savages really in my mind

matchless

>> Edited by matchless on Saturday 3rd December 01:12

[srebbe64]

matchless said:

hmmmmmmm EU, Foreign State, no relavence here according to the Queen (Head of State), therefore Feck off Foregners!, ref Magne Carta, English Bil Of Rights act and Coronation Oath, nuff said Johhny Foreigners?, now just Feck off good Sir like all the other Foreigners theres a good chappie, they really are so basic, illiterate and gross, and course of course, Savages really in my mind matchless >> Edited by matchless on Saturday 3rd December 01:12

I wasn't having a pop at foreigners, I was having a pop at the European commission. And, as far as literacy is concerned, please note it's:

relevance
foreigners
Bill
coarse
there’s

Bigots need to ensure their own house is in order before thay start pointing the finger!

[nonegreen]

matchless said:

hmmmmmmm EU, Foreign State, no relavence here according to the Queen (Head of State), therefore Feck off Foregners!, ref Magne Carta, English Bil Of Rights act and Coronation Oath, nuff said Johhny Foreigners?, now just Feck off good Sir like all the other Foreigners theres a good chappie, they really are so basic, illiterate and gross, and course of course, Savages really in my mind matchless >> Edited by matchless on Saturday 3rd December 01:12

Hmmmmm I think I prefer the EU and all the associeted bollox to the parasite royal scum.

[Axeman30]

nonegreen said:

Hmmmmm I think I prefer the EU and all the associeted bollox to the parasite royal scum.

Tony and Cherie haven't been made king and queen yet nonegreen.

[Jaglover]

Perhaps the greater the distance between the Bureaucrat and the ordinary voter the more waste there will be.

It is fortunate that the EU budget has been restrained to just over 1% of EU GDP, any more would result in further colossal waste.

[granville]

nonegreen said:

Hmmmmm I think I prefer the EU and all the associated bollox to the parasite royal scum.

In which case you are clearly not thinking.

Frankly, preferring the EC vermin to the imperious glory of majesty is a staggering statement: other than the gaping wound of our very own social security system, there are few other mechanisms around which so suck the very marrow from Britain's being, not just financially but legally, socially and economically.

You are blinded by this clear infection of vile republicanism.

Nonners, choose your weapon, yaow traitor!



>> Edited by derestrictor on Saturday 3rd December 09:08

[granville]

LA, watching Bliar's hapless jockying for favour around the brothels of Riga and various Turkish bars of disrepute, it occurred to me that persuing this broad raft of continual federalism may well result in massively detriorated relations between European states rather than the other way round.

Precisely because the microeconomic requirements are so multifarious and disparate, a 'hold-all' compromise seems unlikely and can only result in greater angst.

A broadly free trading zone is all it should ever have been.

[simpo two]

nonegreen said:

matchless said: hmmmmmmm EU, Foreign State, no relavence here according to the Queen (Head of State), therefore Feck off Foregners!, ref Magne Carta, English Bil Of Rights act and Coronation Oath, nuff said Johhny Foreigners?, now just Feck off good Sir like all the other Foreigners theres a good chappie, they really are so basic, illiterate and gross, and course of course, Savages really in my mind matchless >> Edited by matchless on Saturday 3rd December 01:12 Hmmmmm I think I prefer the EU and all the associeted bollox to the parasite royal scum.

I suppose they upset you because they have a bit more money than you - or speak proper English - is that the problem? Politics of envy? Stick Big Liz in a Council House and fill her pad with Albanian murderers? You make me sick. The Royal Family would do a far better job of running this country than Blair OR the EU, and at a tiny FRACTION of the price.

[Jaglover]

los angeles said:

Deristricter I've seen too much good come from the EEC to the poor of Europe to want to knock it - I include the UK in Europe - though I readily admit reform of a bureaucracy is always welcome if it is a papertrail heavy institution. But what I admire it for most of all is the butress it presents to the USA's avowed and announced savagely aggressive determination to dominate Europe economically, and any other "outpost" of non-American democracy. You need only to hear congressmen, senators and captains of industry openly brag about kicking European butt to cringe to realise we need to rebuild those Roman earth wards high and wide to hold back the forces of economic imperialism. Unless, that is, you want a MacDonald's and a Starbucks and a Texaco on every block, and a million billboards in every city.

Such a policy will lead only to further European stagnation. A process which has already started with the refusal of European electorates to confront reality.

[granville]

I hear where you're comin from, LA but to a large extent, American cultural habits are all too assimilated by the hapless Brit already.

The bulwark concept against US imperialism is a notion which appeals to many and every so often, observed outbursts of brutal ignorance from citizens across the pond have even myself wondering why we bother with our poodle stance.

But ultimately, it invariably comes back to one overriding consideration that defines my blind allegiance to the directionality of the transatlantic hegemony.

I am, of course, referring to the fundamental hubba-hubba that any self respecting grunt knows all too well, the sublime entity of the sacred schwing, Locklear Heatheratum.

[judas]

los angeles said:

I've seen too much good come from the EEC to the poor of Europe to want to knock it - I include the UK in Europe

You're working from the flawed assumption that none of that could or would happen without this convergence towards a European superstate.

[ErnestM]

But LA - the peoples of various States in the USA, despite some regional diferences, actually like each other and are patriotic about being part of the greater whole.

The EC/EU will never be that way. There are language barriers, cultural barriers and just plain distrust. Also, being patriotic is something to be discouraged, don't you know. It's not PC, old boy...

Competition drives people in the USA. That is why you hear captains of industry and politicians talk the way that they do. "Winning the game" and competing are still in fashion in the USA.


ErnestM

[turbobloke]

los angeles said:

I've seen too much good come from the EEC to the poor of Europe to want to knock it

Poor of Europe? That's a curious way to describe French farmers LA.

On the other hand if you're acknowledging that the EU is a market front for international political neo-pinko redistributivism, based on twin ideological principles (both flawed) that you can do good for poor people by bleeding businesses dry and excusing idleness on the basis of societal victim kidology, then fair enough

[srebbe64]

I'm a great believer in having a level playing field across Europe, with the free movement of people and goods. That makes sense.

What I do have a problem with is the European Commission wastage. It makes our Civil Service look like a well-oiled machine! I could tell you stories of financial waste and abuse of privelige which would make your teeth curl. It has to be seen to be believed!

[john75]

srebbe64 said:

I'm a great believer in having a level playing field across Europe, with the free movement of people and goods. That makes sense. What I do have a problem with is the European Commission wastage. It makes our Civil Service look like a well-oiled machine! I could tell you stories of financial waste and abuse of privelige which would make your teeth curl. It has to be seen to be believed!

Not sure about that the Audit Commision has highlighted some really bad cases of bad financial management in recent years local Government was a classic example.

[dilbert]

It's not entirely true to say that the European commission is a waste of money. They, I am sure, will bring us all to a point where we cannot fail to view them as an excellent trial target for someone's next generation weapon system.

It's too early to say who's exactly, but it seems that time will tell.