The nation that supplied Baroness Ashton to head EU foreign policy describes Juncker as a non-entity. This causes much mirth in Brussels. One fact that the British media have singularly failed to address is that UKREP Brussels (the UK’s Embassy to the EU) has reported that Juncker is believed to be sympathetic to the idea of continuing Scottish membership of the EU after independence. That makes sense given his record as an EU expansionist and his own background from the small independent state of Luxembourg. It helps explain Cameron’s furious opposition.
The Tories’ frenetic attempts to find an alternative candidate to Juncker are floundering. This is in part because of a fundamental illogicality in the British position. Cameron claims that he wants to reform the EU in part to address its “democratic deficit”. But he wants to start by cancelling the most important democratic advance the EU has made – that the Commission President should be nominated by the winning party in the European Parliament elections. On top of which, in 2010 Cameron pulled the Conservatives out of that winning party in order to form an alliance with the anti-semites of Poland’s Law and Justice party. He now wants this losing party to choose the Commission President.
The Tories are hoping Merkel can produce an alternative candidate from Central and Eastern Europe. The problem is that the parties like Civic Platform in Poland which are in the winning European People’s Party in the European Parliament and in government, are anathema to the right wing loonies with whom the British Tories are grouped. As a result the names being canvassed by UKREP Brussels are now so obscure as to make Junckers look like Ronaldo, and British diplomats are being obliged to extol the virtues of obscure Czech politicians that they have never heard of. Meanwhile Carl Bildt is quietly involved in pushing on Merkel a candidate directly involved in the persecution of Julian Assange. My money is still on Juncker.
Thanks for explaining the riddle of why Cameron is so opposed to this guy Junckers.
You also gave me a good laugh with my coffee with the Ronaldo analogy.
The UK & Sweden also seem to have become as thick as thieves since the Assange case.
Shame!
As long as it’s not BLair.
PS I don’t think Smoothface from the Bullingdon Club is very good at chess or poker. But he has his hands full at the moment with Poison Gove and St Theresa, both of whom are after his own job.
We are led by a public-school twat PR man with a dim but influential fashionista wife and the cultural awareness of a Sausage McMuffin ™ . He is now reduced to aping Blair. How low can you sink?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2652549/David-Cameron-plans-Cool-Britannia-bash-Emma-Watsons-list-Gary-Barlow-invited.html
And how can we hope for anything better?
The alternative to Juncker is Schulz, a German SPD man who Merkel opposes, can’t be Camerons solution to this brat spat. Schulz is not into austerity and he’s rather raw on the edges.
Scotland is a member already and Independence should not give politicians a hard choices to make in the EU. All they see is a stroppy UK threatening to throw the toys out of the pram, with Scotland eager to step aside and clear the EU air.
I stick my neck out, any referendum that has real information of EU workings at its base will see UK voters back the side their tyoast is buttered on, they will vote pro EU.
And here lies the crux, a pro EU vote will leave the Tories and UKIP, the whole shabang of rightwing lugholes looking increasingly for what they are, self centred power addicts who have no intentions to give us a fair voting system or negotiate a long term vision within the EU.
They will be toast in the eyes of voters, with all their prejudices exposed. Cameron still has a chance to turn this around with a referendum before the GE, but I doubt that the public will get proper EU information should he have the guts.
The International Monetary Fund’s Christine Lagarde has said she is flattered to be suggested for a role in the EU as her next post, but it was more important to focus on the institution than the individual.
What has Julian Assange and European unity got. In common?
Schulz would certainly be a good choice. He seems to have the ability to talk like an adult on Ukraine and Russia.
Juncker just repeats the same tired old propaganda nonsense.
They could get a monkey to do that.
Since Europe is divided on the issue it’d be much better to have someone like Schulz who appreciates what’s at stake.
He’d probably not have made the error Merkel made in using OSCE cover to install German military intel operatives in eastern Ukraine.
Silly frau.
Who cares?
Herbie thanks but
So Shulz talks like an adult.
Try talking like a child and ask the sort of questions that a child might ask! Then we will be getting somewhere.
shuckz
Being a bitter old angry sarcastic type I just assume it’s 5% politics and 95% PR. Shirley following the recent elections the expectations of us ungrateful peasants is being managed yet again. I predict a BIG WIN for Cameron against the EU someday soon. Obviously the BIG WIN will be meaningless except to make Cameron look like a BIG WINNER against Johnny Foreigner. I was sort of thinking this post (whatever it is) may be that BIG WIN.
And obviously I must end with:
Down with the EU monster! Radical decentralisation now!
The ‘fashionista wife’ sans chapeau looks just like my mother on her wedding day in 1939. Was SamCam attempting some tribute to the war or the 40s?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2650505/Samantha-Cameron-wears-1940s-inspired-suit-joins-husband-David-D-Day-service-remembrance-France.html
Far too many photos. The Mail usually go into great detail on the designer and the cost (in £1,000s) but not this time. I should think my mother’s cost <£5.
Patrick Haseldine
You got than one nearly correct. Christine Lagarde should herself be in an institution, of a special kind.
Before jumping into the IMF Chair she was Min Finance for Sarkozy and claimed to know nothing about the state of the French banks and their well-hidden indebtedness.
Still, she is a Lawyer and US educated. She was, I believe, good at synchronous swimming when younger.
“That makes sense given his record as an EU expansionist…”
Come on. There is no chance whatsoever of a candidate who is NOT an EU expansionist. There will be a hair to split any of the nutter candidates and that hair will not include their thoughts about EU exspansion. All candidates will be pro EU exspansion, pro NATO, pro IMF, etc.
If Scotland votes for independence, it will make sense IMO for the rest of the UK to be on friendly terms with it and hence support any attempt on its part to join the EU. Therefore there is no sense in opposing Juncker’s candidacy for that sort of reason. I suppose Cameron would prefer a Spanish candidate who would oppose Catalonian independence.
Didn’t the liberals (as losing party) chose Cameron (admittedly of the winning party) to be PM?
Just saw this.
11:25am UK, Monday 09 June 2014
Downing Street ‘Asked Obama To Back Union’
A US government source claims the president’s remarks on Scottish independence followed a direct request from the UK government.
http://news.sky.com/story/1278462/downing-street-asked-obama-to-back-union
Slightly OT, but wouldn’t it be a nice mark of the common decency if one or two of these gun nutters over at the far edge of the map would do us decent folk a big favour and focus their sights on the likes of McCain and Nuland before turning in, rather than innocents.
Cameron’s attempt to foil the appointment of Juncker is reminiscent of John Major’s (successful) tantrum thrown 20 years ago which prevented the ‘federalist’ Jean-Luc Dehaene from assuming the EU presidency. Both gambits are pure political theatre by the Tory leadership, as they attempt to appease the eurosceptic right of the party. Juncker in reality, like Dehaene before him, is no better or worse, from a British government perspective, than the alternatives (Martin Schultz today and Jacques Santer 20 years ago).
In both instances a docile media big-up what is essentially a distraction, engineered by the Tory leadership, that seeks to cast Major/Cameron in the mantle of some latter day Churchill as they allegedly defend essential ‘British interests’.
Will Merkel win out? She’s got the power, politically and economically.
Cameron and Merkel in EU talks
The prime minister travels to Sweden to discuss the future of Europe as he continues his efforts to stop Jean-Claude Juncker becoming EC president.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27757991
Juncker: For and against
Angela Merkel: German chancellor, after some hesitation, backed European People’s Party candidate. Some in Germany believe she may be willing to discuss alternatives
David Cameron: Opposed to former Luxembourg PM’s candidacy – said to see him as a “face from the ’80s” who cannot solve problems of next five years
Fredrik Reinfeldt: Seen as opposed to Mr Juncker and reports in European media suggest Swedish prime minister himself could be compromise candidate
Mark Rutte: Opposed to Mr Juncker, and Dutch PM due to meet Irish prime minister after Swedish summit to discuss alternative candidates.
~~~
Why can’t they have video conferences and set an example. It would save all this flying and much fossil fuel.
Birmingham Airport Long Stay car park is full of cars of businessmen shuttling over to Europe, hiring cars to move around Europe on gruelling schedules, and returning hopefully rewarded with good deals from Europe to the UK.
Why the anti-Europe Tory party is so disconnected from political and commercial reality completely baffles me. Barmy Tory swivel-eyed ideologues. Another good reason for New Labour to be returned to power, after the traitor Clegg has been expelled from the LibDems .
Clegg caused the catastrophe of Thatcher failed rant to come back to power and his party will get shot of him if they have a lick of common sense. Then a LibDem New Labour coalition will fight a Tory UKIP coalition. Foaming dogs of war. Every one of them.
But who is the Swedish candidate that Bildt is pushing?
Himself? 😉
Sweden – contenders to be European Commission nominee
http://europedecides.eu/candidates/contenders-nominees/se/
This website helpfully provided by Clarence Mitchell of Burston Marsteller. He was appointed by Brown to advise the McCanns.
http://europedecides.eu/about-europe-decides/
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/20/eu-democratic-deficit
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle
It seems democracy has lost this principle to fuel
It’s own success.
So democracy Is all about success.
The question should be perhaps how do we fail in ruining the planet?
” Juncker is believed to be sympathetic to the idea of continuing Scottish membership of the EU after independence. ”
I thought this was going to be automatic whoever was in charge?
“What has Julian Assange and European unity got. In common?”
In both cases people got fucked. In the latter case it was us.
Negative interest rates anyone?
Seems that Cameron and Merkel trying to persuade Sweden’s PM Reinfeldt into becoming EU Commissioner shows that some democracies still work.
There is a Swedish parliamentary election on September 14th, and Reinfeldt’s Moderate coalition seems DOA.
The PM could prove to be the first rat to leave the sinking ship of state.
The row about Islamicisation of Park View, my neighbourhood school in Birmingham, is so familiar from my experience as a new Muslim of the Deobandi India/pakistan community here.
The first problem is the legacy of the British Empire, where bastards of the nastiest type, as described in Craig’s new book were set loose on the Indian population. This has inevitable convinced the Deobandi scholars that the English as a race are all bastards like the colonial ones, and secondly that they are are conspiring against the interests of Muslims all of the time.
I have complained many times of their bullying tactics against me, which comes from their embedded suspicions, and ambitions to replace English culture here in birmingham with their own. They spy on me through my internet and mobile phone use, and frequently complain to me about my comments on this blog. If one of their own people has a disagreement with me they listen to his version of what was said, knowing from their own deep-rooted prejudice that their apne/our people are always telling the truth and us gora/white people are always lying.
The Deobandi scholars have given them the Fatwa to use interest in order to establish a property power base here and to engage in sexual activity with English girls, in fact anything that reverses the dominance of English culture.
One elderly Hajji in Green Lane mosque once explained their idea clearly. ‘The English are Pharaoh, the oppressors, and we are the Children of Israel, and Allah wants to put us up and destroy the Pharaoh.’
This vile, indiscriminate hatred is universal. I have been cheated by small-time car dealers and put on blacklists by Pakistani corporate CEOs. The bullying is universal. My main gripe against them is when they hire my services as an English tradesman and proceed to force me cut corners, saving them pennies, butjeapordising my own professional competency.
Their arrogance and bullying has made Islam deeply hated by ordinary English people. The Deobandi political strategy to gain power in the UK has totally backfired on them. A new park has been built next to the city centre where Hijabed Muslim girls can be found openly snogging after meeting up with their boyfriends.
The reason for this failure is that the sunna/example of the prophet Muhammad peace and God’s blessings be upon him, is to set a good example and not to bully and hate. Especially when dealing with ahlilKitab/ people of the Book, such as the Christians of the UK.
They are ignorant village people who are used to doing things in a certain way and sorting out the village pecking order by bullying tactics. So forget about them. They really know very little about Islam or how to promote Islam in the proper way.
The headline news about Park View School should not be taken in isolation. It is not only a major concern in schools but in the whole of UK city life. You cannot get a restaurant licence in some places without having the right contacts on the council and beating the bribes already established by them.
It is also the same mentality as we see in Syria by the Jihadists. Islam flourishes on co-operation and consultation. But the Indo/Pak version of Jihad has become not only a mafia but also a CIA backed Gladio terror operation.
The UK government likes it that way. So long as bad reports of sectarian bullying are hitting the headlines from UK cities and from international destinations, the UK population are very unlikely to turn to the truth of Islam en masse. The false-flag slaughter of s soldier in London is there to protect the Queen and her ridiculous status quo, a fossilised remnant of a remnant of the teachings of the prophet Jesus pbuh.
Deobandi Islam, being heavily involved in the political process in the UK, is the biggest obstacle to the truth of Islam becoming accepted by the UK people. But Allah can dispose of them for not calling to Islam in the proper way, and replace them with another of His creation. And that is very very easy for Him.
I would hardly refer to Reinfeldt as ‘moderate’. He supported George W Bush personally and his party supported the Iraq war and were members of military coalition. He has been PM (described as ‘a Swedish Cameron’ God help us!) since 2006.
Sweden was part of Operation Enduring Freedom and in 2012 had 900 troops in Afghanistan under ISAF.
‘In the Statement of Government Policy presented to the Riksdag on October 6, 2006, the new centre-right Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt declared that the new government will work for a “strengthening of the transatlantic link”. Reinfeldt’s party, the Moderate Party, is more pro-American than the social democrats and supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Swedish membership of NATO. It has some ties with the Republican Party[citation needed]. Reinfeldt visited President Bush at the White House on May 15, 2007.’
In 2009 and 2013 he visited Obama in Washington.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden%E2%80%93United_States_relations
Dropping by. Seems time to share Michael Rosen’s status update.
Andrew Sparrow in Guardian writes:
“Here is the full statement from David Hughes, the vice chair of Park View academy trust. He stressed that he was not a Muslim himself, but a practising Christian.”
NOW HERE IS THE GOVERNOR’S STATEMENT
“I have been a governor at Park View school for 17 years and I’m immensely proud of what’s been achieved here and what’s been done, and very distressed about what happening to undo that work …
On behalf of staff, students and parents who have worked so hard improve their schools, we are extremely disappointed to confirm that Ofsted has graded Park View, Golden Hillocks and Nansen schools as inadequate and put them into special measures.
We support the role of Ofsted in holding schools to account in a fair and transparent way, but we wholeheartedly dispute the validity of these gradings.
Park View, Golden Hillocks and Nansen are categorically not inadequate schools.
Our Ofsted inspections were ordered in a climate of suspicion created by the hoax Trojan letter and by the anonymous, unproven allegations about our schools in the media. Ofsted inspectors came to our schools looking for extremism, looking for segregation, looking for proof that our children have religion forced upon them as part of an Islamic plot. The Ofsted reports find asbsolutely no evidence of this because this is categorically not what is happening at our schools.
Our schools do not tolerate or promote extremism of any kind. We have made a major commitment to raising all students’ awareness of extremism. People who know and have worked with our schools are appalled at the way we have been misrepresented.
Our schools serve some of the most disadvantaged communities in Britain. In spite of this, 75% of students at Park View achieved at least five good GCSEs last year, including in English and maths. This makes it the best school of its type in England. Golden Hillocks and Nansen are on course to get the best results ever. Quite simply, this is because we believe our role is to break the links between demographics, deprivation and destiny.
We refuse to let our students’ backgrounds limit what they can achieve, and who they can become.
The speed and the ferocity with which Park View school in particular has been condemned is truly shocking. Park View school has helped transform the lives of local families by realising their hope and ambition for educational success. School communities at Park View, Golden Hillocks and Nansen that have worked hard to turn round failing schools are being condemned when they should be being celebrated.
The problem here is not extremism or segregation or religious indoctrination, all the things that Ofsted looked for but failed to find in our schools. The problem here is the knee-jerk actions of some politicians that have undermined the great work that we do here and undermined community cohesion across Birmingham and across many of our cities. They have put Muslim children from these communities at substantial risk of not being accepted as equal, legitimate and valued members of British society, and they have allowed suspicion to be cast on the aspiration of their parents and anyone else who believes that these children deserve the same rights and excellent standard of education as any other child.
And it is important you know we will now be challenging all these reports through the appropriate legal channels.”
Weren’t we just exoriating the Beeb? Enter the Guardian;
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/08/juncker-eu-commission-president-cameron-opposition
“One of the uses of history is the cooling breeze of perspective that it breathes over contemporary hot controversies. Reading some of the hyperbolic commentary and shrieking headlines about Jean Claude-Juncker, the Luxembourger whom David Cameron doesn’t want to become the next head of the EU commission, you might come away with the impression that the prime minister is engaged in a life-and-death struggle for the soul of the continent – or at any rate for the survival of Britain. An antidote to that hysteria is to watch the moving commemorations of D-Day”
They seem to be much more compliant than before they sledge-hammered Snowdens’s hard-drives while GCHQ looked on approvingly.
“Down with the EU monster! Radical decentralisation now!”
Hi Phil, out with the whistles of old, in with the vuvuzela’s, oh what a lovely radical decentral;isation that would be….
until it rains/ or people are kettled/ called eco terrorists/ or its tea time and we all go home.
When was the last time we had a radical decentralised protest in this country? never mind getting a decentralised state.
When will the middle class NGO’s realise that asking us to make Londoners look good on demo’s is ineffective, inconsequential, indeed they could be accused of setting up demo’s to suit the police.
So when NGO’s call for demonstartions where we live, all over the country, at every train and bus station, major traffic interchanges, unemployment offices, banks, and airports, then this radical decentralisation you and I are talking about might just start to happen.
For example, a party that calls itself progressive, forward looking and radical has decentralisation of power at its heart, the Green party, it has voted to centralise its operations and leadership.
They have been abused by the BBC bias since they existed and took this turn to appeal to a wider media. Well, after this European election they will realise that the bias has not stopped, that they are still the ‘others’. They have the policies it takes for change, but they are naive when it comes to thinking that the electoral system will present them with a fair win.
so whats the chances for decentralisation?