VERY WELL, ALONE!
Scum and bastards. We will not pay an additional penny. Go to hell, the lot of you.
Regards, Ivan
Posted on 06/15/2005 1:21:27 PM PDT by MadIvan
The European Union is set for financial deadlock - with Britain being blamed.
Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg prime minister and current EU president, said he was fairly certain a deal will not be agreed at an EU summit this week.
And Britain's £3 billion annual rebate will be the main sticking point, he added.
Mr Juncker said that although farm payments will be discussed "a number of states ferociously stick to agreements we made in 2002".
"We have to take a detailed look at what to do with the British rebate; 24 member states believe the rebate can't go on like this," said Mr Juncker.
"Britain is not the only net payer, the other countries would also like their contributions reduced."
He said the 25 member states were close to agreement on the spending side of the budget but wide differences over Britain's annual budget rebate and how much other major net contributors should pay into EU coffers made an agreement improbable.
"I am pretty sure we won't get the financial perspectives through at this summit," Mr Juncker told a European Parliament committee, hours before he was due to circulate a compromise proposal on the 2007-2013 budget to EU leaders.
Britain has said it will only accept a review of its widely disputed refund from Brussels, if EU farm subsidies that mainly benefit France are also reduced.
Mr Blair stuck to his guns yesterday during a meeting in Paris with Jacques Chirac, the French president, rejecting a formal proposal by Mr Juncker.
But the Luxembourg prime minister backed Mr Chirac in saying that agricultural spending, pegged at its current level until 2013 in a 2002 deal, could not be called into question.
Failure to reach agreement this week would add a financial crisis to political uncertainty after French and Dutch voters rejected the EU constitution.
It will jeopardise billions of euros in public investment in 2007 in the new east European member sates.
The Netherlands is also expected to be disappointed this week, with its call that it is no longer the biggest net per capita contributor being met.
"There is agreement, more or less, on the total amount of funding. We differ as to payments to the budget, the structure of expenditure and who is a net contributor," Mr Juncker added.
Scum and bastards. We will not pay an additional penny. Go to hell, the lot of you.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
I just don't get it. The French and Dutch populace rejected the EU Consitution and somehow the UK is blamed?
Yes, you see it's our fault that the EU Constitution was too capitalist for the French. The Dutch are actually capitalists, so that doesn't cover them. But it's close enough for EU reckoning!
Regards, Ivan
The French government's attempt to shift blame on the EU's problems and current crisis to the UK is so transparent...
If Britain wouldn't cower before Napoleon and Hitler, why would they cower before Juncker?
All they've done is anger me. I can imagine that a lot of my countrymen feel the same way.
Regards, Ivan
You got to remember socialists think alike. They sound just like democrats.
No need to be angry -- the leaders of France, Germany and Luxembourg are far too pathetic for that! They're a bloody joke, the lot of them. See how much good being anti-American, anti-British and anti-Iraq war has done them? BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I do try to remember that. Then smug Chirac says another outrage.
I am waiting for him to get his. I pray for it. When it comes, I will laugh.
Regards, Ivan
Hi MI!
This is very interesting to watch, indeed. I'm a skeptic regarding the EU. That said, I hope for a successful, dynamic Europe, as that can only help the world economy.
So, the EU commissioners are now in a squabble concerning funding the EU for 2007-2013. What's ironic is that there may not even be a functioning EU in 2007...
Thanks for your input, as always....
Chirac is a child.
That'll work for me. Then we can go back to being a strong and functioning sovereign nation again.
Worse. He's a socialist.
(Yes, I know in theory he's part of the centre-right party in France, but he certainly behaves like one)
Regards, Ivan
Do you think that PM Blair will stay firm on this rebate issue and says to EU go screw yourself?
There's a place for anger and I think yours is justified.
Concerning Saddam's buddy Chirac and the French: I realize that it's a very small thing, but I will always enjoy ordering non-French wine.
Anger management can be fun.
:-)
I think he will. Blair will not be moved on this issue - the indicators are is that the feud between himself and Chirac has become personal.
Regards, Ivan
Everything should be at the expense of Britain? I think not!
A friend who lives in Paris is black AND conservative, and when I express my condolences for living among so many lefties he tells me that even the left hates Chirac. So why do they keep him in power...?
IOW, we know what we're going to spend but haven't figured out the easy part: where the money will come from.
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