Dear Ms Ford, MEP 2 December, 2010
I am British married to a German living in Germany. I have taught three different European languages in three European countries; I was previous married to a Spanish woman and have one daughter working in Madrid. We also have a ten-year-old boy who is tri-lingual. In other words, I am – or should be – an archetypal “European”.
However, though I used to be a firm supporter of the EU I believe it has now lost its way and even its head so that it is in fact doing immense harm to the “European ideal”. I have prepared a questionnaire which I enclose and which explains my thinking. I would be grateful if you or anyone else in Brussels can point out to me where and why there is any wrong and/or unfair information. The key points are these:
- The EU elite LIED about Greece’s entry to the euro.
- They LIED about the ultimate agenda, at last bluntly stated by the incredible Herr van Rompuy. (“The time of the nation state is dead” = “We intend to build a United States of Europe run by us.”)
- They are paying out billions of euros of taxpayers’ money with no consultation of the latter to prop up the doomed euro, which CANNOT possibly work for all current members.
- They are bailing out countries ILLEGALLY according to their own rules – Mr van Rompuy having been charged to “find a way to do it legally”.
- They have utter contempt for the people who pay their vastly bloated-emoluments – see point 4 and witness the “referendum” issue, where any country voting “the wrong way” is invited to do it again until they get it right. I don’t know if you are aware of this but this is nascent fascism.
On a matter of detail, I am trying to find out what percentage of MEPs’ voters (the ones who PAY for the EU lifestyle, with senior members of the elite earning up to twice what national leaders are paid) ASKED you, the MEPs, to spend SIX BILLION euros on the fatuous diplomatic service led by a nonentity crony never elected to ANY significant post who is paid twice as much as the British PM. How many of us ASKED you to spend this ludicrous sum of money? The EU IS NOT A STATE – it doesn’t even need a PRESIDENT, let alone a diplomatic service. What does van Rompuy DO all day apart from issue ludicrous statements: “The nation states are dead.” Has he TOLD Mme Merkel this by the way? What does Sarkozy think about France no longer being a state? Has he been told?
It is beyond my understanding how at a time of economic collapse all over Europe (and it’s going to get MUCH worse, partly because of this ridiculous and illegal bailing-out of feckless, greedy, venal, over-spending states led by idiots (I don’t exclude Britain)) the MEPs can have demanded an increase of SIX% in the budget. It is really unbelievable. Which planet do you live on? How many of your constituents ASKED you do to this? “Please, as my MEP I want you to push for a six% increase in the budget.” Does what your CONSTITUENTS want count for ANYTHING?
This is really beyond a joke. I have turned from a former supporter into someone incandescent with rage about the waste, arrogance, self-delusion and downright illegality of much of this.
Another example: Mr Mandelson RESIGNED as an EU Commissioner to become a British Lord (in itself a gross insult to any ordinary citizen – feudalism is supposed to have died out centuries ago), but because the stingy British state only pays him £100,000 plus expenses for doing very little and this is £62,000 less than what he was on in Brussels, the EU (that means WE, THE TAXPAYERS) are paying Mr Mandelson the DIFFERENCE for FOUR years. Yes, for FOUR years he gets £62,000 from the taxpayer for doing nothing EVEN THOUGH HE RESIGNED. This is THEFT, but the EU has cunningly packaged it up in mealy-mouthed language as part of its “procedures”. I resigned my job in France to go and work in Africa for much less. Nobody supplemented MY salary and of course I would have found it ludicrous if they had. What has possessed you people to think that this is acceptable?
I am afraid the whole thing has become an utter farce and is so venal and incompetent that it has to fail. It is just like FIFA. Are there ANY large international organisations that are not a corrupt rip-off?
My main point is, WHO IS REPRESENTING US? I thought that was YOUR job? But did we REALLY ask you to spend all this money on Mandelson? How many of us WANT SIX BILLION spent on a diplomatic service, which of course is a total irrelevance. The idea that having some posh EU Embassy downtown is going to impress the Africans and help to compete against the Chinese is just silly. I read that it is intended to put FORTY-SIX “diplomats” on that industrial colossus Barbados and over FIFTY on Madagascar. Is this to become the new world commercial powerhouse? It all seems to me INSANE, and I remind you that Europe is drowning in debt and also regulations. If you REALLY want us to compete better with China then get rid of some of the idiotic rules that are crippling business. The ONLY reason for this idiotic service is to INCREASE the momentum towards a European superstate, which Mr van Rompuy has stated is the now not-so-hidden agenda. Could I once again ask you HOW MANY of your constituents (who pay your salary) have ASKED you for this?
For the elite of course (and we used to think that “Yes, Minister” was a joke – silly us ….) the BIGGER the budget, the MORE the people, the MORE important your organization must be. This is why the EU elite pays itself so much, so that the plebs will say: “Goodness me! He earns twice as much as our Prime Minister! He must be twice as important. Oooo errrr ….”
I summarize:
- I do not WANT a European superstate, but that is what is being thrust down my throat by those who think they know best ……
- Mr van Rompuy is unhinged – has he told Switzerland, for example, that their nation state is “dead”? “If the euro fails, we could have war.” The arrogance and rank stupidity of this man – from a failed and disintegrating Belgium – is stupefying.
- The decision to spend six billion euros on a “diplomatic service” for a non-state is incomprehensible. Even if it WERE comprehensible, WE CAN’T AFFORD IT. Anyone know this phrase in Brussels? No, I thought not – and they don’t know it in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy or Great Britain either – though they may at last be learning it.
- The demand of MEPs for a 6% increase in the EU budget is SHAMEFUL for the same and many other reasons and in particular at this time on account of the economic meltdown in Europe. This latter will of course not affect the EU employees and especially the elite – unless the plebs en masse finally rise up and bring the whole sorry mess crashing down. The 6% demand in fact reveals how OUT OF TOUCH the EU is, even the MEPs who are supposed to REPRESENT THE CITIZENS.
- Finally, the bailouts are ILLEGAL according to your own rules. You are in effect STEALING the people’s money to prop up a failing enterprise which you LIED to launch and this for your own POLITICAL reasons with no consultation of the people who pay your wages. The whole thing is completely preposterous and shameful.
I am sorry to be so critical. No doubt there are many MEPs and indeed other workers who are conscientious and do good work, since not all the EU does is bad (as I’m sure you’ll be relieved to hear). My beef is with the Franco, Belgian, Luxembourg elite that has Europe by the throat with German’s acquiescence through her guilt over WWII.
Van Rompuy? Are you PROUD of this imbecile? He said that if the euro fails “it could bring war.” What a disgusting ploy worthy of the most seedy advertising campaign, threatening war if his project fails – which it must, as Portugal and Greece for a start CANNOT live in the euro alongside Germany unless they have eternal subsidies from the same – and do you think the Germans are going to put up with this for ever? Only the other day some Greek politician was haranguing Frau Merkel at a dinner and insinuating that Germany should pay more ….. and she said – no doubt at last exasperated by this endless venal idiocy – “Perhaps Germany is better-off out of the euro.” Yes, she said that. The German milch cow only has so much patience. I hope someone was listening ……
And this has come about because van Rompuy and others of like mind in the past LIED about Greece’s entry to the euro. They KNEW A) Greece was lying about its finances and B) that Greece couldn’t live long-term inside the same currency as Germany. (their own economists TOLD them this). THEY LIED, Mr Simon. Do you not see the seriousness of that word? This is the point. And NOT ONLY THAT, they are using OUR money to DEFEND their lie and this AGAINST THE rules. You truly couldn’t make it up.
The EU elite is AS BAD AS THE BANKS, and that is saying something. They have turned me, a previously-enthusiastic “European”, into someone who will now fight to destroy the EU AS IT NOW EXISTS.
We DO NOT WANT A UNITED STATES OF EUROPE run by someone like van Rompuy from Brussels. You ALL know this, but you persist because you think you know best. The combination of someone who thinks he knows best and power always brings fascism. Van Rompuy and others are bringing about the very dissension, disasters, fear and dislike of Germany and possibly even one day war that they seem obsessed about. I ALREADY hear comments (especially from those who have run out of their German money they have been recklessly binging on for the past few years) which are negative about Germany, as if it were HER fault that she is better off. There is no divine right which says that silly, greedy and venal governments of lazy, non-serious states have the right to be eternally subsidized by Germany in the name of “solidarity” – people are dreaming.
Please help us to stop this nonsense. Nobody else will – not even our own governments.
Yours sincerely C SNUGGS