Euro Rebate
 

Mr Blair has given away part of the rebate from Europe in order to get the budget through £5.5 billion in cash. Now what do we gain for this "generousity;"

Farm spending review in 2008 - Until 2014 French farmers will still get their Brussels dole.

We will as taxpayers have to fork out 42 billion for the gravy train. Its total £584 billion (862 billion euros) tobe mis spent and wasted.

The new countries from the east of Europe are supposed to be better off.

More Brussels interfearence.

Who gains most from this? As usual France. They will pay more but get more from CAP. I think we have been nelsoned again and it was time we bailed as the cash sent over there could/would be better spent here on the NHS Schools Dentists etc.

Re: Euro Rebate
 

Europe is such a waste of money. I'd put a huge string of arguments but well, I can't be arsed because nothings gonna be done till Mr Cameron gets in to power :p

Re: Euro Rebate
 

what makes you think he will do anything about it...?

like every other crook he will prommise the world and deliver sweet F.A

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maybe we should have joined the e.u. earlier..and then we would have had more clout.....

Re: Euro Rebate
 

As I recall, Granny, we joined just as soon as we were allowed to. The main reason we did not join earlier than we did was because De Galle did not want us in and did everything he could to veto our membership. Don't you just love the french? I would like to see them all drown in a pit of their own vomit!

To return to the matter in hand though, Wasn't it Blair the liar who has just come through a general election in which he promised the British Public that he would not sacrifice one penny of our rebate until the French agreed to cut what they take from the Common Agricultural Policy?

Not only has he betrayed all the people who were stupid enough to have voted for him, but has meekly agreed to allow France to keep their CAP payments with only the vaguest of agreements to review it in three years, thus handing Chirac a victory and on top of that has handed Europe an extra 10.7 Billion Euro's. All to bolster his "legacy".

Funny isn't it, quite a few European Agriculture Ministers were opposed to cutting what the French claim from the CAP and, oddly enough, most of those also happen to own farms in France.

Re: Euro Rebate
 

Tony Blair has done everything he can this last week to please the French and a small hand full of other European countries.

Perhaps he should start dealing with europe in a way that will please people in his own country.

We must not forget that this money he is giving away belongs to the public, not the Government, and that sooner or later he will and the labour party will have to answer for it!

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Look at it from another point of view, whatever he does is going to be a heck of a lot better than Tony "Liar" Blair :p

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Maybe if we were more positive about Europe then we wouldn't get such a raw deal from the original 6 members.

One thing that does amuse me though is the irony of all the UK farmers bleating on about Europe and how they hate it, yet they are loathe to let go of their lovely subsidies from the CAP. :)

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Could you explain exactly what there is to be positive about? We pay far more in that we get out - money that disappears into a budget that is so wasteful and tainted by corruption that the auditors have refused to sign the accounts off for 11 years running. We are saddled with more and more legislation which has been decided by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels (or Strausbourg, because the whole thing moves there for a week every month so as not to upset the feelings of the French). And now, thanks to this deceitful, vain, weak-willed man, we have the misfortune to call our prime minister, we are paying even MORE for the privilege!

Re: Euro Rebate
 

There is quite a lot to be positive actually.

The Social Chapter giving more rights to workers after Thatcher reduced them to nought. The adoption of the Human Rights Act. The abolition on duty if you travel between member states, to name just 3.

It beggars belief that the very people who removed an awful lot of democracy from the local tiers of government have the audacity to moan about the removal of democracy when it happens to them.

What annoys me about certain conservative members of the the European Parliament is how they attack Blair (who I consider a sell out) when he has no platform of support following the agreement that Major made at Maastricht in 1993.

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Interesting that you seem to think that Euroscepticism is confined to Tories. I'm not particularly a Tory (more a cynical, floating voter) and I would suggest that a huge number of non-Tories in this country are deeply suspicious of the projected European Superstate. I was also interested in your use of the phrase "...the removal of democracy when it happens to them". So, you admit that democracy has been removed from this country, then?

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Europe wants to be a big plaher but seems to forget there is no "i" in team. If they are so determined to succeed then whay cant they work together? Some countries I think need this set up so badly they will do anything to make sure it dosnt change in a way that affects what they have/will have. If Blair dosnt come to his senses soon we will end up paying even more than we do now which is wrong. Part of the rebate has been "returned" for a deal that costs more than we lost on the rebate surrender. Is this the way forward or should we be standing up and giving certain countries the international sign of displeasure? I hate the thought that the tax I pay has been given to a bunch of narrow minded inflexable nambies (mentioning no names.) Are we going to grow old wondering when the next European rip off scan is coming?

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Wasn't labour originaly against the idea of economic europe, and infact the only referendum we have had in the UK (that was to the whole electorate) was done because labour wanted to jump out of the common market which the previous conservative government had joined..

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Which ever party that was in the past in favour (or not) of joining the European Union is not really important any more, especially now that the union is nothing like what it was then.

What is important is whether or not we want to be a part of what this union has since become.

I think perhaps the time has come to leave this utterly corrupt union behind and concentrate on what is best for Britain!

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blair basically got ass-whooped - gave away the part of the rebate and got a fiddle stick in return.

tehy're sayin that by the time gordon brown comes into power there's gona b a large debt there as a result of this