14 June 2005 Blog Home : June 2005 : Permalink
Blair: 1 Chirac: 0
A certain amount of "oeuf sur le visage pour l'Escroc n'est ce pas?" Said oeuf remaining despite attmepts to redirect it by insisting that everyone else hold a vote too. As Elaib and Eu-Rota point out since the French and Dutch referenda voters in the rest of the EU have moved solidly into the "Non,Nee, Nein, No..." camp so once everyone had come back from their brief swim in denial they all explained how this was a bad idea because it would cause the ship EU Constiturion to sink statim rather than possibly limp into harbour a bit delayed and somewhat battered.[Aside 1: Juncker seems to be having an extended Egyptian swim and has apparently nailed his trousers to the mast of the Lxembourg referendum - as the linked FT article says even TEBAF Margot is doubtful about the wisdom of this aproach. The only explanation I can come up with is that he seems to feel that he deserves an nice EU job to replace his PM-ship of Luxembourg and that by showing his dedication to the cause he gains brownie points in the smoke filled rooms where these positions are filled. If the Luxembourgoisie do vote negatively it will be interesting to see whether he actually does go down with the ship EU Constitution or whether he takes to a lifeboat at the last minute.]
Round two is on the EU budget. In a blatent attempt at the diverting attention when he is caught trick that he is so well known for l'Escroc ("Confiture? moi? je ne la mange jamais") managed to get his dachshund to agree that the real problem in Europe these days was the pesky British Rebate which meant that people, particularly those poor people in the East, weren't seeing all the benefits they should be seeing from the EU. Unfortunately for l'Escroc Tone managed to point out that one big reason why the EU's newer members didn't get quite so much benefit was that a certain nation beginning with F and ending in RANCE was slurping a monstrous chunk of the EU's budget by means of its receipt of CAP funds. As the Wapping liar points out:...the CAP still accounts for more than 40 per cent of the EU budget — €40 billion — even though agriculture accounts for just five per cent of EU jobs and 1.6 per cent of economic output. The CAP costs EU taxpayers roughly €83 billion a year in subsidies and inflated food prices.
The biggest beneficiary by far is France, which received €10.4 billion in 2003 compared to €6 billion for Spain and Germany and Britain’s €4.
There is still a certain amount of time to go on round two but l'Escroc's blame-shifting wheeze looks like it might have some interesting domestic repercussions. Despite the lack of prominent coverage on state TV (something I can personally confirm), I have no doubt that the troublemaking lefties like Monsieur Bove are only too aware of the CAP issue.[Aside 2: I'm not at all clear how Blair managed to state with a straight face and no increase in nasal length that his meeting today with l'Escroc was "immensely amicable". The "Blair lied" folks must be regretting that now that he has been re-elected interest in his general truthfulness appears to have waned.]