The Real European Union

[sinkov]

This is from the inside, the bit they don't tell you about on the BBC, and we've been paying billions a year to keep this farce up and running.

Claire Fox MEP

"I have enjoyed my first fortnight back as a civilian after my temporary stint as an MEP. Along with other Brexit party representatives, we had one job, and we did it. I am rather proud of my modest contribution to bringing democracy home.
Looking back at my experience as an MEP, there are lessons worth noting. I had assumed that a gathering of 700 or so MEPs from all around Europe, would, at the very least, provide a fascinating exchange of views from an international perspective. But the parliament operates through artificially federalised political groupings; behind closed doors the leaders of each grouping carve up who gets to speak, for how long (typically 60 seconds), and in stage-managed terms.
Topics for discussion are similarly preordained, prescribed by legislation initiated elsewhere. There are few opportunities for actual free discussion, so very few listen to each others’ speeches. The chamber is regularly empty save for a lone voice and the chairpersons. Interaction is reduced to a formulaic blue card system for asking questions, which in too many debates are ruled inadmissible due to time restraints and fiat. No wonder the parliamentary chamber is only full when voting takes place; because financial penalties operate if you don’t turn up for a minimum number of votes per year.
But it’s not just the technical process that so deadens debate. Without accountability to voters back home, the atmosphere is one of a feudal court with MEPs forced to vie for favours. Interactions with other organisations are often confined to professional lobbyists. European civil society and NGOs that petition for favours and influence for their special interests are often themselves funded from EU coffers. This creates a system of patronage that encourages self-reinforcing group-think and a cloying sycophancy.
It has to be said that one of the most impressive aspects of the parliament are the brilliant unsung translators, who ensure that whatever language you speak, you are understood. Ironically, the Lingua Franca is jargon and bureaucratic wokeness. Everyone bangs on about diversity except diversity of opinion. So whatever is being discussed, the outcome must always be further and deeper integration into the EU project. And while it is estimated that EU sceptics now represent a quarter of seats in the European parliament, a behind-the-scenes cordon sanitaire has been erected by the main political groups to ensure they are shut out of positions of influence.
One issue that is likely to shatter the consensus has been Brexit. There was a strange atmosphere in the European parliament in the weeks leading up to 31 January. Not quite the end of days, but there’s no doubt Brexit got everyone thinking about the future. A mood of jolting reflection was prompted by the knowledge that if the UK can survive – even thrive – outside the EU, Eurosceptic public opinion in some other member states could also grow.
The shift was reflected in a distinct change in attitudes to Brexit party MEPs. Regardless of winning the European elections and the support of millions of British voters, during our seven-month tenure the majority of mainstream MEPs from the other 27 member states were almost universally disdainful.
But in the final weeks, that hostility ebbed away. (Admittedly, amongst the UK Remainer contingent it got worse and more vicious). When we arrived, it was common to hear Europeans trotting out the line that the British public had been duped (and probably regretted their decision), or that the British working class and the UK was on the brink of fascism.
Lib Dems and Labour MEPs of course fanned the flames of these untruths, while Brexit party MEPs worked hard in committees and parliamentary plenaries to counter this misinformation and appealed to fellow democrats across Europe – and there are many – to make the case for national sovereignty and the defence of democracy.
So it was lovely that, towards the end, so many MEPs – from left and right and from countries right across the continent – approached me, shook my hand and wanted to chat.
It seems the inevitability of Brexit helped them relax a little. Some complimented our group for making them see another side of Brexit. Others admitted that while disagreeing with us, they admired our dogged coherence as a group. Many found our contributions well-informed and useful. One MEP said he and colleagues had been plotting together on how to make the spirit of Brexit come alive in other countries across Europe. Another said she was determined to take inspiration from Brexit party speeches to try and kick-start a livelier debate in what is a dull and technocratic institution.
One thing we can be sure of is that Brexit will leave its mark on the EU. Indeed, the European Commission’s proposal for a two year-long conference (that’s right, a two-year long conference!) on the Future of Europe is specifically designed to counter the damaging impact of a “Brexodus”.
In my final session at the Strasbourg parliament it was surreal how almost every contribution referred to the “lessons of Brexit”, and stressed the alienation of EU institutions from rank and file citizens throughout the continent.

She goes on to point out that the Future of Europe conference is being strictly managed, arch-federalist Guy Verhofstadt has been put in charge, who else, and after two years deliberations it will conclude that the answer to Europe's Brexodus problem is simply.....More Europe.

[Deadlydave]

Thank Goodness we are out. If there are mistakes to be made I'd rather it be my Parliament that makes them than some distant bunch of unaccountable technocrats. What price Freedom???? We must never let them take it away from us again.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

We worked this out about three years ago if I recall correctly sinkov? It was hard trying to persuade some of the numb nuts on here just how sh-it it is and was, but we have got there in the end.

Honestly I feel like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders now that the Brussels set are no longer being funded directly from my phooking back pocket!

[barrie_burn]

There must be a lot of MEP's from many countries picking up a very nice salary and expenses for doing sweet FA.How do they get the job in the first place? Because they have the right contacts in the right places.It stinks.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

There must be a lot of MEP's from many countries picking up a very nice salary and expenses for doing sweet FA.How do they get the job in the first place? Because they have the right contacts in the right places.It stinks.

It's bollox barrie and I'm delighted it's ended! The whole rotten edifice will crumble soon.

[sinkov]

We worked this out about three years ago if I recall correctly sinkov? It was hard trying to persuade some of the numb nuts on here just how sh-it it is and was, but we have got there in the end.

Honestly I feel like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders now that the Brussels set are no longer being funded directly from my phooking back pocket!

We're still bankrolling the feckers until the end of this year BT, the monkey's not off our backs just yet.

[sinkov]

"The EU spends its ossified budget wastefully, even egregiously. Over 40 per cent of expenditures are for agricultural subsidies. In a shocking expose, the New York Times reported that the agricultural subsidies “underwrite oligarchs, mobsters, and far-right populists.” The corruption resides at the very top: “national leaders use the subsidies to enrich friends, political allies, and family members,” the paper reported. The European parliament is complicit. It summarily dismissed the latest effort to roll back some of the payments doled out. Simply put, too many influential power brokers have their privileged hands in the till. The New York Times also revealed a frightening overlap between the geographical payment of subsidies and environmental pollution, an overlap that EU officials are seemingly aware of."

Better off out.

[1959_60]

I've just got back from a few days in t'Lakes and I am about to set off for Hastings to help my Bro in law with his house move.
I'll be back Sunday (hopefully)

I just took a quick look at the board and, by God, it is full of absolute tripe.

You will have to wait a few days for me to put you right, and by hell, don't you need it.

But don't worry, Priti has found 8M people who can cover for the workers who used to come from abroad. So she has sorted the Social Care, NHS, Hospitality sector and food growers problem in one simple sentence.

Genius.

[sinkov]

But don't worry, Priti has found 8M people who can cover for the workers who used to come from abroad. So she has sorted the Social Care, NHS, Hospitality sector and food growers problem in one simple sentence.

More Lefty Project Fear drivel, we don't we need to find 8 million people, all those who came from abroad to work here can stay here. It's perfectly normal, it's the default position of every country in the world, except for those in the EU, we'll be in control of our own borders. Of course big business doesn't like it, it's an end to cheap labour for them, they'll have to pay a decent wage, why would anyone have a problem with that ?