AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD: Britain could face expulsion from EU under Prodi plan

The Daily Telegraph ^ | December 6, 2002 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

[MadIvan]

Prodi is going out of his way to provoke a backlash in Britain, and I dare say Denmark and elsewhere. If he doesn't shut up the EU will break apart. Keep talking, Romano. ;)

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Airborne Longhorn]

I agree with you, Ivan. If the rest of the EU delegations drink this Kool-Aid, coupled with the Euro currency virus, then the EU itself may sink--rapidly--into the sunset.

Best from Houston...

[proxy_user]

Well, if you did want to form a new country, this is the kind of thing you'd want to do. But, as Gertrude Stein once said, if not, not.

[MadIvan]

The rhetoric in the EU is far outstripping the reality. Prodi talks in grand rhetoric about Europe defending itself and having its own defence pacts...the reality in contrast is Germany is shrinking its defence budget and the only EU nation with a sizeable and modern military is Britain.

They create a "Growth and Stability" pact and couch it in huge rhetoric about how this is going to bring prosperity to Europe. The reality is that there is neither growth nor stability in most of the Euro zone.

The entire EU adventure is so disconnected from reality you have to wonder if it was made up by a bunch of French and German university students who got drunk together.

Regards, Ivan

[Stefan Stackhouse]

I'd almost given up hope that the UK could somehow escape the deadly EU embrace, but now hope springs again! The last thing the UK needs is to be turned into a powerless province of "Europe". Being expelled by the EU could be the best possible scenario.

Then, maybe we could scrap NAFTA and NATO and form a US/UK/Canada/Australia/NZ trade/defense bloc. Birds of a feather should flock together! We are natural allies, since we are all kin, after all.

[chiefqc]

If it's going to happen, it will be at least 10,000 years fom now. The giant egos involved will no permit a sooner agreement.

They can't even agree on the size of the table to sit at to discuss what to do next.

[MadIvan]

I like the idea that we could be like Norway, keep the trading arrangements, and yet at the same time keep our money and tell the EU regulators to sod off. I think it would give us a great sense of national rebirth and renewal.

I thoroughly agree an alliance of English speaking nations should be pursued in the aftermath. Let the Germans and French talk themselves to death.

Regards, Ivan

[Happygal]

All your prayers answered *L* :-)

[Airborne Longhorn]

Your remarks remind me of that great Mark Steyn article: "Put Up or Shut Up".

Your comment: "The entire EU adventure is so disconnected from reality you have to wonder if it was made up by a bunch of French and German university students who got drunk together" points me to this gem from Steyn:

"You’ll recall Louis Michel, the Belgian foreign minister, insisting late last year that the European Rapid Reaction Force ‘must declare itself operational without such a declaration being based on any true capability’. As the Washington Post remarked, ‘Apparently in Europe this works.’

"Asked to set up an actual operational Rapid Reaction Force, most Nato members bristled: the cost would divert valuable resources from social programmes and might mean they’d have to cut back on welfare payments to Islamic terrorists."

Isn't this choice? Even the Washington Post marveled at the lunacy...

[You Dirty Rats]

Article VI, Clause 2 of the US Constitution -- will it appear (in some form) in the new EU Constitution?

Will the EU become sovereign over all of its member states?

I read Maggie's latest book, Statecraft. She's right about the EU, except that since the book was written it is even more clear that it is NOT in Britain's interest to be a part of that disaster any longer.

[geedee]

Amen . . . except we need to ixnay Canada from the mix. Until Cretin Chretien skips town Canada is a misplaced France in my book.

[geedee]

Hell's fire, we're gonna have to make you an honorary Texan!

[spokeshave]

OK ..then the Europe under EU gets a single UN vote

[general_re]

Once a country accepts the new arrangement, it could not leave the EU when it wishes.

Hahaha - in the immortal words of Miss Shirley Bassey, "it's all just a little bit of history repeating". Who will be the British Robert E. Lee? ;)

[MadIvan]

Who will be the British Robert E. Lee? ;)

No idea. I wonder if Mrs. Thatcher will go down as sort of being our John Calhoun, however. I certainly believe in "Nullification" in this instance.

Regards, Ivan

[Kenny Bunk]

This is bad news indeed, for it gives Tricky Tony Blair yet another option:

Having been a fervent Euro-Federalist, he can now say,
"Oops ... those crazy Euros have now gone too far ... never trusted the foreign bastards anyway! Besides they are no where near as tough as they ought to be on these Terrorists, which I and my bosom buddy, George Bush are busy fighting, so you ordinary yobbos better vote Labour for the rest of your lives, which are in my hands."

Thanks to OBL and these EU Wonks, this slippery little twit will use one cunnnig stunt after another to remain Prime Minister until I'm in the Happy Hunting Grounds ...dammit!

[general_re]

Well, you either abandon national sovereignty, or you don't - there isn't much of a halfway position here. I'm wondering if anyone in Labour is fool enough to try playing the part of Henry Clay.

Anyway, you can tell your lefty neighbors - sorry, neighbours ;) - that this would mean the loss of a seat on the UN Security Council. Maybe that'll get 'em moving against this...

[Billthedrill]

Dynamite the Chunnel, the party's over. What a very weird little fantasy world these guys inhabit...

[MadIvan]

I'm wondering if anyone in Labour is fool enough to try playing the part of Henry Clay.

Yes, Tony Blair.

Anyway, you can tell your lefty neighbors - sorry, neighbours ;) - that this would mean the loss of a seat on the UN Security Council. Maybe that'll get 'em moving against this...

Many on the far left are opposed to the EU - Tony Benn, for example, as he feels that the EU is "too capitalist", of all things.

Regards, Ivan