[Acrylic-bob]

"Has there ever been any degree of accountability as to where any of the EU money has gone? Or for that matter how it was raised?"

The EU accounts are actually audited every year, but have not been signed off now for 17 years, because of the amount of fraud -oops - misreporting found in them. The accounts are in theory open to inspection - in practise that is another matter.

The difference with the EFSF is that, for the first time, this inaccountability is enshrined in the treaty. They are not even going to make any pretence about democratic accountability or freedom of information.

From what I have read, once the dust has settled and the markets get their head around what has been decided - not much - they will, as the Nikei did on Friday, start selling fast. Then when the individual parliaments realise what has been agreed, one by one they will begin to raise objections.

Reading some of the comment in European broadsheets is quite instructive. They complain loudly that they are tired of Britain always vetoing their projects and reforms etc. We should, according to the comments, never have been allowed to join in the first place. Having said that, however, they seem quite contradictory in believing that although they have almost got what they say they wanted, Britain out, that Britain should have made more of an effort to compromise and stay in.

Pah! Europeans, they are beyond understanding.

But I think de Gaulle showed that knew us better than anyone might have guessed when he opined that, if it came to a choice between the continent and the open sea, Britian would, in the end, always choose the sea.

Well, they and we have made our bed, now we must lie in it. I have no doubt that our bed will be uncomfortable for a while but at least we won't have anyone nicking all the blankets and blaming it on us.