Letter to van Rompuy

Dear Mr Rompuy

As a European taxpayer I write in the hope that you may be able to answer some questions relating to the use of my money:

The G20 Conference

• Can you please explain to me why you and Mr Barroso attended the G20 meeting in Mexico? The G20 is a group of states represented by Heads of State and Finance Ministers. Neither you nor Mr Borroso are Heads of State. You are functionaries. You have NO DECISION-MAKING powers. The EU is not a state. Why should the European Union be represented as a unit and not other economic groupings around the world?

•  Can you tell me the total cost of your involvement? I know that in Brussels you have a staff of around 80 people and that you cost us well over €25 million per annum. I assume that your entire staff did not travel but would like to know how many did and what this cost us.

• The hotel where the G20 leaders are staying is said to have suites costing up to $3,500 per night. One assumes that people like Putin and others stayed in such suites, but I would be interested to know what the arrangements for you were. Normally – these matters having a certain symbolism – one would suppose that you also enjoyed similar accommodation, or did you try to save us money by opting for something more humble? As for symbols, you are paid around TWICE as much as the British Prime Minister (and of course A) pay little tax and B) enjoy innumerable expenses), which is clearly supposed to give a subliminal – or indeed not so subliminal – message that you are twice as important. This is of course ironic insofar as you actually have no importance or relevance whatsoever.

• Can you tell me why such a preposterously luxurious venue was chosen for leaders at a time of severe economic hardship for the people they represent?

• Finally, can you tell me ONE SINGLE DECISION or ADVANTAGE for Europe that accrued from your presence at the G20 meeting? Is there ANYTHING WHATSOEVER that has been decided or advanced that would NOT have happened without your presence? Please do not tell me you were representing the little countries of Europe, since everyone knows that all EU decisions are basically made by Germany and France. The rest do not really count and/or are treated with contempt, especially the UK  – apart of course from its TWENTY MILLION GBP PER DAY NET which goes to pay your costs.

  
On a general note:

1. Could you also tell me ONE SINGLE PRACTICAL ADVANTAGE TO THE EU that we (the taxpayers) get from your post? The EU is NOT a state and thus does NOT need a “President”. If it does, then ONE is already enough. As mentioned above, your cost to the European taxpayer is very large. Your palace in Brussels is reputed to have cost us THREE HUNDRED MILLION EUROS and counting, and I would like to know what REAL benefits the average European taxpayer gets for this absurd sum of money.

2. While on this subject – and remembering that the EU is NOT a state – can you please tell me why there is a new Diplomatic Service headed up by Dame Ashton that has cost us SIX BILLION EUROS? All EU countries already have their own diplomatic representation, and so this EU body is utterly superfluous. The idea of spending this colossal sum on something completely unnecessary and all the more so at a time of economic meltdown is stupefyingly insane. Do you suppose that having 36 EU functionaries on the island of Barbados is in some way supposed to boost this “growth” that you are all yearning for in order to avoid the collapse of the EU? SIX BILLION EUROS could have gone a long way in training technicians to compete in the real world.

3.  You and the EU elite are on a self-confessed mission to create a United States of Europe. You yourself have admitted this. “No small state can survive alone.” Funny that you don’t seem to know about Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and many other small states that are doing quite nicely thankyou without the insufferable bureaucracy and cost of Brussels.

Finally, this current fiasco is the result of two things:

A) the basic structure of the eurozone

1. As it was set up, your OWN ECONOMISTS among many others told you it COULD NOT WORK. You ignored them.

2.  Greece for a start was allowed into the eurozone on a PACK OF UTTER LIES. They NEVER met the criteria set up, even though these criteria would anyway not have been sufficient in themselves for the euro to succeed. Everyone KNEW the Greek statistics were lies, INCLUDING the then Governor of the Bank of Greece, Mr Papademos. NOBODY CARED. NOBODY RESPECTED THE RULES. You are ALL involved in a GIGANTIC lie. A lie, indeed, for which NOBODY HAS BEEN HELD TO ACCOUNT. Indeed, Mr Papademos – involved at the very centre of this lie – was later nominated by the troika to be PM of Greece, an act reminiscent of the Nazi habit of appointing Gauleiters to countries they invaded. Have you no SHAME about this, Herr van Rompuy? Do you not understand the ANGER of people like me about this?

B)    The criminal (or what should be criminal) habit of European countries to over-borrow. This crisis has NOTHING to do with banks, ratings agencies, the British, the Americans or whoever today’s convenient scapegoat is. it is primarily the fault of idiotic national governments which have ruined their countries, of which Zapatero’s is a prime example. The EU DID NOTHING TO PREVENT THIS LUNATIC BORROWING. NOTHING to sanction the countries involved. What were the highly-paid MEPs doing to publicize the insanity going on? Ten years later and ONLY NOW you start to get serious. What was the POINT of you during these ten years?

To sum up, the euro was based on an unworkable plan implemented for purely political reasons by a privileged elite which has recklessly gambled with OUR money. Yes, Mr Rompuy, OUR MONEY. It ALL COMES from US.

Given the above facts, I have been waiting for months for ONE SINGLE WORD OF APOLOGY from people like you and Mr Borroso. But there is NOTHING. All we hear are endless demands for Germany to pay for everything, combined with blame tossed around at the usual suspects, who NEVER INCLUDE the EU elite. As for the Germans, THEY HAVE PAID THEIR DUES. They have paid HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS NET into the rest of Europe over decades. To get them to abandon the Deutschmark, they were PROMISED that this fiasco would never happen and that they would NOT have to bail out reckless countries, yet you and especially Mr Barroso KEEP ON about “eurobonds” despite Frau Merkel repeatedly saying “NO”. LEAVE THE GERMANS alone. If some Greeks are now waving Nazi flags about and blaming the Germans for all this then it is YOUR FAULT. YOU engineered all this. It is UNBELIEVABLE when you consider the self-righteous arrogance of your daily utterances.

European integration of some kind is a dream which I personally favour, but the actions of you and your political cronies in the various national governments have turned it into a nightmare. Any discord now arising between EU states is YOUR FAULT. And NONE OF YOU will be held to account and NONE OF YOU seems ever likely to apologize to the MILLIONS now suffering hardship because of the combined actions of the EU elite and stupid national leaders such as Zapatero and others.

No, Mr van Rompuy, you are not worth twice the salary of the British PM. In fact,  I consider your cost to the EU to be fraudulent (though it is clearly not your fault personally – even if you seem more than happy to go along with it) and will be sending a copy of this letter to the Ombudsman, who is I believe supposed to investigate the improper use of EU funds. As I asked at the beginning, WHAT WAS THE POINT of your attendance at the G20? You have NO power of decision – it is all a massive power-building sham and fraud perpetrated on the European taxpayer. You may WISH the EU were a state, but it is NOT, and I repeat, NO SINGLE EUROPEAN HAS VOTED FOR YOUR OBSESSION, even though we are all PAYING for it.

I look forward to your response. As an EU taxpayer I feel I am entitled to know exactly how and why my money is being spent.

Yours sincerely

Chris SNUGGS