True Economic Governance

The ongoing Euro zone crisis and the potential collapse of the single currency have led to Merkel and Sarkozy calling for ‘true economic governance’ in the EU. Who would have thought it, eh?

Of course, by ‘true economic governance’, our kind European masters really mean a drive towards fiscal union and European taxation. The proponents of ‘ever closer union’ never fail to exploit a crisis for their benefit and further their goals.

However, this attempt was inevitable. You cannot have a currency covering such a wide geographic area, with a single interest rate set by a central bank and just hope that it will work. The collapse of Ireland, Greece, Spain and Italy were predictable, given the cheap rates of credit they were able to obtain in contrast to the state of their national economies and levels of demand.

Yet, while the Eurocrats will always argue that a crisis is caused by a lack of integration (rather than ‘ever closer union’ itself being the actual problem), their road to full fiscal consolidation will be long and contentious – and they are very quickly running out of time and money, with events increasingly playing out beyond their control. At the end of the day, they will be swept along by the markets and events, just like the rest of us. That is European equality for you.

At The Heart Of Almost Everything

This morning The Daily Telegraph reported that Britain’s last train making company, Bombardier had announced plans to make 1,400 jobs cuts.

The decision to shed these workers was made after the Government awarded a lucrative contract to German company, Siemens, for the construction of 1,200 new carriages for the £6bn upgrade to the Thameslink route.

The Railway’s Minister, Theresa Villiers, said the bid by Siemens, which will build the new carriages in Germany, represented the “best value for money for taxpayers” and stressed that the contract would create up to 2,000 new British jobs.

This is particularly interesting in light of the comments Ms Villiers made when in opposition during the previous Parliament. Well, I say ‘opposition’, but then there never was very much actual opposing of the Brown Government’s policies by the Conservatives. Indeed, sometimes I wonder whether we even had a change of Government at all. Most of the guff the Government spouts these days could just as easily have been announced by a Labour Minister.

Richard North drills home the duplicity of Government Ministers who say one thing in ‘opposition’ and another in Government:

How very different this was two years ago when our Theresa was outraged by the government’s decision to award a £7.5 billion contract to replace ageing high-speed trains on the Great Western and East Coast main lines.

Bombardier also lost out on that one, that time to a consortium led by the Japanese firm Hitachi, called Agility Trains, which included John Laing and Barclays Bank.

Then as now, the government said the contract would “create and safeguard” UK jobs, claiming 12,500 would benefit. But the then Shadow Transport Minister, who just happened to be Theresa Villiers, dismissed this as “typical spin” from the Government.

“This announcement raises further questions about Gordon Brown’s claims about British jobs for British workers. Geoff Hoon needs to stop the spin and tell the UK’s hard pressed train manufacturing industry the real truth about his decision on replacing intercity trains,” she stormed.

Then, however, the fair Villiers did not have to confront the “real truth” – the realities of the EU’s procurement directives, which prevent British firms being favoured, even if it is more economic in the longer term.

Gosh, now that was a surprise, wasn’t it? As we’ve learnt by now, at the heart of almost every political problem in this country lies the European Union. Such is the degree to which our sovereignty has been diminished that our own Government is incapable of deciding which companies may be awarded state contracts.

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Pure Fantasy

In recent weeks the Daily Express among others has speculated that Government ministers are becoming ‘more eurosceptic’ and now want the UK to quit the EU. So, what do we make of such announcements?

In light of the recent media speculation, John Gill on the Freedom Association’s website asks whether the Conservative party have rediscovered euroscepticism? He says:

The Daily Express refers to these revelations as a ‘surge in anti-Brussels feeling within the Government’; and, whilst I have my reservations as to how accurate these reports are, it is encouraging nonetheless that even arch Cameroons, such as Letwin and Hilton, are beginning to see just how damaging an institution the EU is.

Whilst I won’t hold my breath that this will happen any time soon, I am confident that sooner, rather than later, the Tories will have to rediscover euroscepticism to stand any chance of keeping up with public opinion.

While John says he won’t hold his breath at this happening, even to believe that it could happen is of course wishful thinking. In fact it is so wishful as to be almost pure fantasy, since you cannot rediscover something if you had never discovered it in the first place – the Tories never having been a ‘eurosceptic’ or anti-EU party.

Eurosceptic as a definition is pretty much meaningless these days, which could best be summed up as ‘supports the EU but pretends not to’. We’ve had three decades to gaze upon the workings of the European Union and to understand it for what it really is. This is very much a black and white issue. You either do not agree with the European Project and wish to leave it, or you support it and wish to remain within it. There is no in-between, wishy-washy, middle ground. The EU cannot be reformed or changing from within, in part because there is no overall will to do so from the majority of pro-EU member states and even if there were then no mechanisms to bring about such ‘reform’ exist. Therefore ‘euroscepticism’ is a ploy to dupe the gullible into voting for so called ‘eurosceptics’ who are politicians who support the EU because they do not wish to leave.

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You Can’t Do That

The Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, has today reaffirmed the Conservative pledge to abolish Home Information packs if the party forms an administration after the next General Election.

The promise by the Conservatives is, however, not worth the manifesto paper it will likely be printed on. This is because it is practically impossible for any UK Government to abolish Home Information Packs because they have been inflicted upon us by our continued membership of the European Union.

One need only refer to Directive 2002/91/EC which explains the certification of homes and building energy efficiency levels. The Directive came into full force on the 4th of January 2003 when it was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities and all member states (including Britain) had to comply with the legislation by the 4th of January 2006.

The deadline of full compliance has of course long since past. We must, by European law (which now takes precedent), certificate all our buildings and homes regardless of whether we wish to or not – all in the name of tackling ‘Global Warming’. We cannot escape from doing so, and while the Conservatives may try to change the name of the Home Information packs to something else, the energy certification which is the essence of the packs must be retained.

While David Cameron would like to keep quiet about ‘Europe’ (by which presumably he means the EU), as Daniel Hannan noted yesterday:

Almost all the things that really annoy people come from Brussels – home information packs, fortnightly bin collections, metric measures, compulsory car seats, all stem from EU directives.

Thus, in most instances you cannot honestly discuss domestic issues in Britain without considering European Union legislation and regulation. This becomes more apparent to people by the day, but still Mr Cameron, the Conservative Party and much of the media refuse to acknowledge the giant EU elephant in the room.