Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
19 November 2009
08:4733434#1
a eu president is being elected today,the voting is being done by all 27 heads of state ie,prime ministers etc.it would be intressting to find out whos got the job and how long for.the faverite at the moment is the belguim prime minister with blair being an outsider.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
19 November 2009
09:0433437#2
Yes I think we have missed an opportunity here by not getting behind Mr Blair for the EU President position. If your campaign cant get support in your own country then you are lost, and at the moment it is looking unlikely for Mr Blair, let down by his own people.
I cannot for the life of me understand why this nation in general prefers some anonymous no hoper bueracrat from Brussels or Timbuktu over our own man.
We want the UK to be up there with massive amount of say and clout...now, because of the usual petty political dithering at home, and the usual debate from the bum scratching Sunday Supplement types here in the UK, the situation is handed to some lowly ranked foreignor who wont prioritise the UK in any way.
Why did we not do this? Extraordinary.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
19 November 2009
09:4233439#3
What we dont want is an egotistic actor who will 'big up' the role. The British people will soon be divesting themselves of the Blair heritage and to have him imposed on us in this position would be intolerable. We need a nobody, do nothing, go nowhere EU president until we get out of this farce.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
19 November 2009
17:2233466#4
Do we really though Barry ?
I'm no fan of Tony Blair at all, but if Europe (with or without us) is to be a world class participant in terms of trading blocks, then don't we need a "big" hitter to push Europe forward ?
I have the same view as you about Europe Barry, so I'm not becoming a Europhile, far from it.
Some member-states want a quiet man, others want a big-name.
Roger
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
19 November 2009
17:5233470#5
It would serve one use to have him.... He will push the EU too far all the sooner speeding our departure.
19 November 2009
18:2433474#6
Doesn't it concern anyone that this President is not elected by real people? Is it just me?
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
19 November 2009
18:3133477#7
Yes, Bern - you are right, the whole thing is a total farce of typically corrupt EU horse trading.
The EU Socialist bloc have just voted to support a British Labour Peer, an EU Commissioner (a nonentity cant remember her name though I just read it) as the Foreign Secretary, that means they have truned against Blair making a Christian Democrat President more likely. Brown was there apparently, so a poke in the eye for him, the Jonah strikes yet again.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
19 November 2009
18:4133479#8
Bern I think the thinking that makes this acceptable is that the president will be elected as leader by the guys that we voted for...so its a kind of democracy in action, albeit long winded. There is no way the population of europe in general would bother going to the polls to elect anybody of this nature so there is no other way to do it.
I still cannot understand why people here do not want a Brit in the role. Usual Irish thinking on stuff like this is..that we would be happy to see an Irishman/woman in the role as its a national flag waver and its got lots of prestige, with also a major eye on your own national well being. We would not care if he belonged to the opposition party..Surely it should be a goer for these plusses!?
But BarryW you just want to see an end full stop to Europe. As was suggested in your blog you are more in line with UKIP thinking on this, as the Conservatives do not want to pull out of Europe, and wont do under Mr Cameron.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
19 November 2009
18:4733480#9
At the end of the day we will get out of the EU (not Europe...Europe is not the EU, different beast as the Swiss and Norwegians will tell you)
and it will be the EU that seals that deal and it wil be Conservative leadership that delivers.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
19 November 2009
18:5033482#10
the blues have had 12 years so far doing nothing, plenty of time to come to a conclusion about the eu.
dc has never said that a major debate will take place on the subject of withdrawal and/or a referendum will be offered to the people.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
19 November 2009
19:0133485#11
But howard the tide of history and EU power abuse is working in our favour. Look at the likely make-up of the next Parliament and you will see a Cameron Government being the first truly Eurosceptic Government we have had since entering the EEC, whats more the Conservative Party in Parliament will be even more anti-EU...... every survey has shown this.
Anti-EU feeling in the country is also increasing leaps and bounds and once the EU start abusing their new powers, and they will, that feeling will increase.
The pressure to act will become impossible to resist. We will have a different ball game yet again in Cameron's second term.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
19 November 2009
19:3033489#12
i do not think that the role of president is that important, but roger and paul are right that we should be supporting any of our people standing for it.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
19 November 2009
19:5433490#13
barryw old chap no need to get in a lather,ive spoken to many people over the last few weeks.most of them like the idea of having an eu president/froigen minister.some are waiting a certain amount of time before making up there minds.there fore in conclusion erurosceptics are fighting a losing battle.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
19 November 2009
22:3933505#14
Dont you believe it Brian.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
20 November 2009
07:1833512#15
barryw,opinion by the grass roots population counts more than you think.it could prove inyressting over the 18 months or so to see how it pans out.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
20 November 2009
07:4333513#16
I am staggered to find how the EU presidential vote has gone..two completely anonymous nobodys have been elected as president and foreign secretary. I very rarely agree with UKIP's Nigel Farrage but he has it right this time in that the have "elected two pygmies in a world of giants!"... to quote Farrage.
What were they thinking. Somebody strong charismatic to stride the world stage to rub shoulders with Obama at equal level...no, a little harmless non descript Belgian pygmy, hugely less famous than the only other known Belgian, Hercule Poirot. Strewth!
Herman Who!!? said one newspaper.
Im a supporter of the EU but am disappointed with this situation. Thery have gone for a weak consolidation rather than a giant step in a brave new world. The same anonymity smacks the gob of the female appointment too...who??
Makes you wonder if there is such a thing as too much democracy?
20 November 2009
08:2833519#17
Democracy didn't come into this - I know we apparently elected those people who were deciding on our behalf who would represent us in the EU on the world stage, but the idea of having a president of such a large population elected by such a minority of potentially unrepresentative people is deeply offensive and reduces the credibility of the role enormously. Many of the EU politicians are anyway there by default due to voter apathy or ineptitude. There is nothing right about this.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
20 November 2009
08:5833522#18
A wasted opportunity by the EU and Baroness Who? an unlected member of the European Parliament now heads an army of 6000 Diplomats. So this is democracy at work?
The only positive note is that the new Presidents surname has opened a whole bagful of puns on "Rumpy-pumpy".
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
20 November 2009
09:4033527#19
But Bern we are where we are in the EU. Once again you express an anti view but dont say how else it could be done. It is not do-able to exercise full democratic rights across 27 countries (or whatever it is now) in the hope that people would go to the polls on this. Spend vast amounts of money on a mass election for an almost certain non turnout. How many of us have heard of the candidates. how many of us have heard of the guy that won, would he or others like him excite the folk in downdown Krakow to vacate the bars and boutiques and trundle headlong to the the polling station?
The only way is to get the representatives there at EU headquarters to do the selection. Not ideal maybe but can anyone think of another way?
My gripe is they got the wrong people... low profilers, paper shufflers, who wont steal the headlines from Merkel and Sarkozy and indeed Cameron when he's in.
20 November 2009
11:0933532#20
My point, PaulB - none of us have heard of the candidates, and they wield power over us. Because I personally have no realistic option does not mean the current option is right!!!
