Daily Express - NOW EU WASTES £225M OF YOUR MONEY ON ‘SPIN’

The EU flag is shredded during a protest in Maidenhead yesterday organised by Ukip’s Ken White

Tuesday May 10,2011

By Alison Little Deputy Political Editor

 Have your say(8)

BRUSSELS bureaucrats were slammed yesterday after it emerged they plan to spend more than £225million of taxpayers’ money next year on pro‑EU propaganda and spin.

The shameless plans were discovered in the small print of proposals for an inflation-busting 4.9 per cent rise in the EU’s total budget for 2012.

The details emerged on Europe Day – an annual ­commemoration of the first step taken in 1950 to create the union. It drew ­demonstrators on to the streets of Britain to shred the EU flag in a major snub to Brussels’ demands for it to be flown across the entire bloc.

Mats Persson, director of the Open Europe thinktank, said: “Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for PR exercises that vainly try to make them love the EU. The EU needs reform, not more spin.”

Nearly half the proposed budget, £115million, would be spent on administration and more than 1,000 staff in the EU’s communication division.

A further £84million would go on “informing about policy”, while some £25million is earmarked for events and publicity to promote Europe.

Within the proposed package, £31million would be spent over the next four years on “information events” aimed at ­journalists to help “connect” the Commission with the ­people by ensuring they can provide “reliable and timely” coverage of the EU.

Ukip leader and Euro MP Nigel Farage said he feared a “sinister” attempt to “indoctrinate” journalists, adding: “Do they think journalists, or the public, are stupid? No amount of money or PR can make people like the EU or stop the press reporting the political reality of Brussels.”

A Commission spokesman said the communications budget added up to less than 0.2 per cent of the overall EU draft budget.

Yesterday two Government departments flew the EU flag. Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable hoisted it over his offices in Westminster and it was also raised above the Department for Communities and Local Government. Downing Street, however, refused to fly the flag.

Ukip member Ken White organised a protest against Europe Day in Maidenhead, Berks, where a pair of garden shears were used to shred the EU flag.

He said: “Why should the EU demand we fly their flag. The whole thing is so undemocratic. We must fight this.”

A protest also overshadowed yesterday’s celebrations at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. In a major embarrassment for the EU, politicians from the UK, the Netherlands, France and Denmark held up their national flags.

Mr Farage, who led the ­protest, said: “We have never voted for this EU flag or anthem, nor has anybody else in Europe voted for it. It has no legitimacy whatsoever.”

Europe Day commemorates the anniversary of French Foreign Minister ­Robert Schuman’s call for a coal and steel community – the forerunner of the EU.

Europe Day eh, didn't see many flags about that day. Well done Ken White, Nigel Farage & the politicians from the UK, the Netherlands, France and Denmark.

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/245712/Now-EU-wastes-225m-of-your-money-on-spin-Now-EU-wastes-225m-of-your-money-on-spin-#ixzz1LwJLwlG6

BBC - Number 10 shuns EU flag tradition

Downing Street will not fly the EU flag over Number 10 during Europe Day on Monday unlike previous years, the BBC has learned.

Some other departments, including the Treasury and Foreign Office, will also not hoist the European symbol.

But the Liberal Democrat Vince Cable's Department for Business will raise the blue and gold flag.

Downing Street denied there had been any instruction from the prime minister to departments to end the tradition.

However, Number 10 did hoist the flag last year.

'No flagpole'

The UK's relationship with Europe is a potential source of tension between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

The government's own published guidance still does suggest that departments should mark the day by flying the EU flag.

A spokesperson from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills told the BBC its permanent secretary had taken the decision to fly the flag as in previous years.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, led by another Liberal Democrat, Chris Huhne, told the BBC it did not have a flagpole.

Finally a bit of common sense from No. 10, I just hope it not a sign of another EU referendum lie come next election.

David Cameron in 2009 with the old vote conservative & get a referendum trick.

Daily Express - EU MOVE RISKS UK’S SEAT AT UN

THE EU has seized the right to speak at the United Nations on behalf of its 27 member states, prompting fears that Britain may eventually lose its seat altogether.

In the latest Brussels power grab the EU will be able to address UN meetings through its own officials, rather than the country holding its rotating presidency.

The decision, which does not give the EU voting rights, comes after years of lobbying by the European bloc.

Baroness Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told the UN’s General Assembly they would now hear “a clearer voice” from the EU.

But the move has sparked fears that the UK will eventually lose its seat at the UN table.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “This is the next step along the road to Britain being deprived of its permanent seat and its voice at the UN Security Council. There can be no such thing as a ‘British Foreign Policy’ if there is an EU ‘common foreign and security policy’.”

This is the next step along the road to Britain being deprived of its permanent seat

Ukip leader Nigel Farage

And people ask me why I think the EU is anti-democratic.  

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/244765/EU-move-risks-UK-s-seat-at-UNEU-move-risks-UK-s-seat-at-UN#ixzz1LVPtzqxS

Daily Express - AV REFERENDUM: SHOULD BE VOTING ON OUR EU MEMBERSHIP

The second UK-wide referendum in our history should have been a precious opportunity to reconnect the public with their political system.



Instead it has been an undignified shambles.

Just imagine how different it would have been had today’s referendum been about something that millions of voters feel truly passionate about: whether Britain should stay in or leave the European Union. Certainly the 373,000 Daily Express readers who filled in our crusade coupons and posted them back would have provided massive energy and impetus to the No To The EU campaign.

And on the Yes side there would have been aligned most of the self-styled “progressive” side of politics: public sector unions and senior establishment figures, the BBC and quangocrats.


Refendum D-Day: David Cameron explains why you must vote NO to the new voting system


The campaign would have reinvigorated political debate and finally addressed one of the root causes of widespread cynicism with the political process: the massive democratic deficit that has built up thanks to the failure to have a referendum since 1975 about the ceding of sovereignty to the EU.

The lack of a referendum on powers transferred from Britain to Brussels in the treaties of Maastricht and Nice, Amsterdam and Lisbon would finally have been addressed. Whichever way the vote had gone all sides would have had to admit that the British people had finally been allowed their say. And not before time. 

In the year since the coalition took power the mission creep of European federalism has become a gallop. The European Court of Human Rights has become ever more bold in overriding the will of our Parliament, ordering Britain to give convicted prisoners the vote.

The European Court of Justice, the supreme court of the EU, has also got in on the act, overriding national courts in matters of car and life insurance and even, we learned yesterday, laws governing stem cell research in member countries. 

And, although the loss of economic sovereignty caused by membership of the single currency has caused immense damage to many of its members, the reaction of Brussels has been to take more economic sovereignty and impose even stricter membership rules. 

Only yesterday it emerged that the EU has won speaking rights on behalf of its “member states” (they never call us countries) at the United Nations. One does not have to be paranoid to recognise that the long-term agenda is for the EU, under its unelected and resolutely third-rate foreign affairs supremo Cathy Ashton, is to take the place of Britain as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

On Monday outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg there will be the most symbolic demonstration yet of the determination of the EU elite to create a “United States of Europe”. A ceremony will be held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the EU flag, accompanied by music from the band of the Luftwaffe.

The EU flag will be symbolically elevated above those of “member states”. At the same time, as the Daily Express revealed yesterday, public buildings in Britain will be expected to fly the EU’s “circle of stars” flag proudly aloft under the threat of a fine for non-observance. 

Well millions will surely agree with the reaction of Tory MP Mark Reckless to such assaults: “Britain is more than a star on somebody else’s flag.” A thousand years of history and nationhood, of empire and bloody-minded resistance to totalitarianism whether from the Far Right or Far Left is mocked by the craven reaction of our political class to the creation of a European superstate.

Our Parliament’s freedom of manoeuvre on almost every major political issue – from immigration to student finance, from trade to law and order, from foreign policy to energy policy – is now constrained by EU law.

Ministers in the Government speak privately of being staggered at how far the tentacles of the EU have reached into our national life. The very status of Britain as an independent nation state is being dismantled and it is all being done without the permission of the people.

The only thing to be said for the AV referendum is that it renews the precedent for deciding important constitutional matters via a vote of the population. So now let us have one on the most important constitutional matter of all.

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/244786AV-referendum-should-be-voting-on-our-EU-membership#ixzz1LSuuYYOv

Daily Express - EU FLAG RULE: WE’RE POLES APART

Eric Pickles savaged Brussels bureaucrats for ordering his Whitehall office to fly the EU flag

Wednesday May 4,2011

By Macer Hall Political Editor

 Have your say(19)

EUROCRATS last night faced an angry revolt over attempts to force Britain to celebrate the EU’s Europe Day next week.

Scores of public buildings around the country are being ordered to fly the blue-and-gold European Union flag to mark the occasion next Monday.

Officials will be expected to ensure the flag remains hoisted for a week, with a swingeing fine from Brussels threatened for those that disobey.

Astonishingly, they even have to take a photograph of the flag flying and email it to the European Commission to ensure the regulations are being observed.

Schools are also being sent instructions from the European Parliament on how to celebrate Europe Day. Recommendations include assemblies with an EU theme for all pupils and even setting up a European Cafe that only accepts euros.

Last night Tory Cabinet Minister Eric Pickles savaged Brussels bureaucrats for ordering his Whitehall office to fly the EU flag.

He said: “Not only is it unacceptable to threaten to fine people for not flying a flag, this is unnecessary and pointless red tape. The European Union should be focusing on ensuring that taxpayers are receiving value for money, and clamping down on fraud and corruption in EU-funded projects.”

Other critics last night rubbished the “pointless waste” of time and money.

Charlotte Linacre, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance pressure group, said: “Taxpayers would have more to celebrate if the EU stopped dreaming up ways to splurge cash. These events and rules are pointless backslapping and will land taxpayers with more unnecessary bills. When public spending here is under scrutiny, it is infuriating to see the EU continue to spend oblivious to the need for restraint.”

The Daily Express crusade to get Britain out of the EU has won massive support. We delivered a petition of 373,000 signatures from readers demanding a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU to 10 Downing Street earlier this year.

Europe Day, held on May 9 every year, was decreed by an EU summit in 1985 to establish an annual celebration of the “achievements” of Brussels.

Mr Pickles’s Department for Communities and Local Government at Eland House, Westminster is a site where the flag must fly because of its role managing expenditure by the European Regional Development Fund.

It is understood ministers will not defy the edict because breaching the regulations could lead to taxpayers’ cash being wasted on paying Brussels fines. A spokeswoman for the Department said: “There are two flag poles outside the departmental building of Eland House, and it is the policy of the department always to fly the United Kingdom’s Union Flag in the superior position.”

The leaflet for schools across the UK is from the UK Office of the European Parliament entitled: “A few ideas on how to celebrate Europe Day.”

Advice includes: “Hold an assembly on the meaning of Europe Day.

“Set up a European cafe in school using Euros/European currencies and arrange a lunch. Learn the national anthems of other EU member states and sing songs of European origin. Write a short story about Europe.”

Many EU-subsidised public bodies including universities and quangos are also holding events to mark Europe Day.

Last night a spokesman for the European Commission’s office in London said the only official event in the UK would be a free classical music concert in the capital costing around £20,000, marking Hungary’s presidency of the EU.

Here we go again, please allow me to offer an easy & peaceful solution, simply put the flags out & half mast! If enough people do this I suspect they won't try to enforce it again. 

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/244599/EU-flag-rule-We-re-poles-apartEU-flag-rule-We-re-poles-apart#ixzz1LNF66vX2

Super MEPs to cost at least £250 million

Plans to create a group of 25 'super MEPs' aimed at cultivating an "EU identity" will cost taxpayers at least £250 million.

The cost for British taxpayers is at least an estimated £50 million Photo: ALAMY

By Martin Banks in Brussels 6:00PM BST 02 May 2011

Under the controversial proposals, the extra MEPs would be elected on top of the Parliament's existing 751 members from pan-European political parties to represent the whole EU.

It is hoped well-known names or even celebrities would stand as candidates for the 25 places and that one of the new intake would be selected to become a future President of the European Commission.

With the current annual cost of an MEP estimated to be £2m, the proposal would cost at least an additional £50m per year, or £250m over a five-year parliamentary term. The estimated cost for British taxpayers is likely to be at least £6 million per year.

Added to this will be the cost, put at "several million pounds", of creating a relevant electoral oversight body. All the costs will be borne by EU taxpayers.

The aim is to attempt to cultivate an "EU identity" and boost voter turnout at European elections. The plan has however been denounced as a waste of time and money.

Under proposals approved by the Parliament's constitutional affairs committee on Monday, voters would face two ballot papers at European elections – the first for their region and a second with lists of candidates selected by EU-wide political parties.

A well-placed parliamentary source said the costs could "easily" exceed £250m over Parliament's five-year mandate.

"The extra 25 MEPs would presumably cost more than current MEPs as they would have to attend 'constituency' functions every weekend right across the EU and they would probably need added resources to handle the extra inquiries that they would receive from press and constituents," he said.

Member states must approve the plan, due to come into effect for the next European elections in June 2014 but Ashley Fox, a Tory MEP, said: "The last thing the British taxpayer wants to pay for is an extra 25 MEPs elected across Europe plus the cost of a European electoral authority.

"The British government must veto this completely absurd proposal. Trying to pretend that the EU is one single constituency is madness."

Marta Andreasen, the Ukip MEP, said, "This is the latest attempt to blur national lines, replacing them with a single European entity. It is a crude method to try and plump up federalist support within the European Parliament and it is also grossly expensive."

Andrew Duff, the Liberal MEP behind the move, defended the extra costs, including that of the electoral body, saying this will have a "small staff whose main job will be to liaise and coordinate with national electoral authorities."

  Andrew Duff is The president the Union Of European Federalists (UEF)  so his statement comes as no surprise, nor does his shear stupidity if he thinks the voters are going to buy this hogwash, so let me get this right we waist more money & for our trouble we get a load of dead beats tell us how not to be British, come on! Why don't you smell what your shovelling.

 It is hoped well-known names or even celebrities would stand as candidates for the 25 places and that one of the new intake would be selected to become a future President of the European Commission.

Just think of the consequences!

Daily Express: SHOULD PARTS OF BRITAIN BE MERGED WITH FRANCE?

FURY erupted last night after a European Union plot to “carve up Britain” by ­setting up a cross-Channel region was exposed.

Should parts of Britain be merged with France?

Senior Tories condemned plans to merge southern England and northern France into a territory called “Arc ­Manche” complete with its own flag.

Brussels chiefs have already earmarked millions of pounds for lavish projects designed to give the zone its own “identity”.

Schemes include a £7.6million “cross-Channel” network of cycle paths, a £2million travelling ­exhibition of “contemporary” ­artworks and even a ­bizarre ­international tour by ­circus clowns costing £5.5million.

Tory Cabinet Minister Eric Pickles yesterday revealed details of the plan inherited by his Whitehall department from the previous Labour government.

The Communities Secretary said: “Labour ministers have been caught red-handed conspiring with European bureaucrats to wipe England off the map and replace our historic ­boroughs, counties and cities with transnational Euro-regions.

“Massive amounts of taxpayers’ money are being wasted on vanity projects. I intend to fight these plans, stop this waste and protect England’s national and local identities from EU empire building.”

There are fears the outrageous plan could spread to affect other parts of Britain.

Meanwhile, the Daily Express crusade to get Britain out of the EU has won massive support. We delivered a petition of 373,000 signatures from readers demanding a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU to 10 Downing Street earlier this year.

SHOULD PARTS OF BRITAIN BE MERGED WITH FRANCE?

NO!

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/244282/DEBATE-Should-parts-of-Britain-be-merged-with-France-DEBATE-Should-parts-of-Britain-be-merged-with-France-#ixzz1LBlTAr2s