Strike One: Net contribution to the EU budget per capita 2003
France £19
UK £42
Strike Two: Common Agricultural Policy receipts per capita 2003
France £117
UK £45
Strike Three: Prime Minister Blair raised eyebrows on arriving in Berlin last night by going straight into lengthy talks with Angela Merkel, the conservative opposition leader who is well placed to defeat Herr Schröder in the general election in September.
From The Sun -
Blair digs in
Mon. June 13th, 2005
THE next week will be a truly momentous period shaping Britain’s relations with Europe.
The fundamental unfairness of EU finances is top of the agenda at the European Council of Ministers.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will be under siege over our EU rebate from France’s Jacques Chirac and his German sidekick Gerhard Schroeder.
The two failed Euro leaders reckon it’s perfectly fair that £4 of EVERY £10 spent by Brussels goes to just FIVE PER CENT of the EU’s population [and just two percent of its GDP] thanks to the Common Agricultural Policy.
This crazy set-up means money is sent where it’s not needed and is directly responsible for increasing African poverty.
What a grotesque situation.
Blair and Brown know this and are dug in for a bruising confrontation.
In days gone by, Chirac and Schroeder’s arrogance may have helped their cause.
But not any more.
For like the Emperor’s new clothes, the public across the continent has seen through the economic shambles they have created.
The PM and his Chancellor are quite rightly refusing to budge on the rebate until the CAP is torn up and rewritten to stop it being a licence to print money for French farmers.
With continental economies floundering, Britain has a wonderful chance to control the future shape of the EU.
While Europe gazes at its navel, wasting time trying to resurrect the dead constitution, the world is changing before our eyes.
The EU must be fit and strong to compete with the new industrial powerhouses of China and India.
It cannot do so with the CAP in its present form.
Make no mistake, this political battle will be a brutal encounter.
There can be only one winner.
Britain.
France £19
UK £42
Strike Two: Common Agricultural Policy receipts per capita 2003
France £117
UK £45
Strike Three: Prime Minister Blair raised eyebrows on arriving in Berlin last night by going straight into lengthy talks with Angela Merkel, the conservative opposition leader who is well placed to defeat Herr Schröder in the general election in September.
From The Sun -
Blair digs in
Mon. June 13th, 2005
THE next week will be a truly momentous period shaping Britain’s relations with Europe.
The fundamental unfairness of EU finances is top of the agenda at the European Council of Ministers.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will be under siege over our EU rebate from France’s Jacques Chirac and his German sidekick Gerhard Schroeder.
The two failed Euro leaders reckon it’s perfectly fair that £4 of EVERY £10 spent by Brussels goes to just FIVE PER CENT of the EU’s population [and just two percent of its GDP] thanks to the Common Agricultural Policy.
This crazy set-up means money is sent where it’s not needed and is directly responsible for increasing African poverty.
What a grotesque situation.
Blair and Brown know this and are dug in for a bruising confrontation.
In days gone by, Chirac and Schroeder’s arrogance may have helped their cause.
But not any more.
For like the Emperor’s new clothes, the public across the continent has seen through the economic shambles they have created.
The PM and his Chancellor are quite rightly refusing to budge on the rebate until the CAP is torn up and rewritten to stop it being a licence to print money for French farmers.
With continental economies floundering, Britain has a wonderful chance to control the future shape of the EU.
While Europe gazes at its navel, wasting time trying to resurrect the dead constitution, the world is changing before our eyes.
The EU must be fit and strong to compete with the new industrial powerhouses of China and India.
It cannot do so with the CAP in its present form.
Make no mistake, this political battle will be a brutal encounter.
There can be only one winner.
Britain.