Reality Hits Home In The EU.
Last night the first EU Summit of 27 leaders without the UK as a member country broke up with no agreement at all. Not only was the main topic of the two-day summit — the EU’s €1 TRILLION new budget — not agreed.
It appears that most member countries are farther apart now than before the summit started.
What was it Macron said last night? Oh yes
“We don’t need Great Britain in order to show disunity.”
President Macron of France, at his press conference in Brussels last night, 21 Feb 2020
Oh dear 😂 Suddenly the EU is facing life without British money. Treasure Island has left the building.
The new EU budget will start the moment the UK finally leaves the EU, at 11 pm, 31 Dec 2020
The 27 EU countries, the EU Commission, and the EU Parliament are arguing over how big it should be
One thing is certain — the EU’s budget will total more than €1 TRILLION Euros
This time, thanks to Brexit, the UK will not be one of the minorities of countries paying for it.
“Unfortunately, today we have observed that it was not possible to reach an agreement. We have observed that we need more time. We know that this European budget is a very difficult topic, it’s a very difficult negotiation, especially after Brexit and the gap between 60 and 75 billion euro.”
- EU Council President Charles Michel, Brussels, 21 Feb 2020
How much will the EU Commission lose following Brexit?
Projecting any macroeconomic figures over a seven-year period is fraught with risk. That said, there are over 45 years of accumulated data to look at whilst the UK was a member of the EU, and we also know the minimum and maximum positions of the various EU bodies and member countries in respect of the new budget.
We must conservativey estimate of the UK’s net contribution to the EU’s likely new budget — if the UK were still a member — is €90 billion. In this, we must include the various ‘off-budget’ funds which the EU has used and continues to set up for various purposes.
Just how bad is the disunity in the EU now?
The simple answer is that there is no consensus forming around any EU budgetary proposal, from any EU leader, from any EU country. The mainstream media are attempting to simplify matters by referring to blocs of countries (the “Frugal Four”, the “Cohesion Countries”, etc) but the reality is that the picture is more fragmented.
The new EU Council President is Belgian Charles Michel, who has taken over from Donald Tusk. Sadly Monsieur Michel is not considered to have covered himself in glory in the last couple of days. Indeed Chancellor Merkel made some very disparaging remarks about the lack of a detailed ‘Plan B’ when it was clear that President Michel’s initial proposal had no wings at all.
Angela Merkel saw it all coming and went to bed early on the first day
Things looked so bad before the Summit even started that Dutch Prime Minister Marc Rutte turned up with a book to read, to while away the time. It was Well You Did Ask: Why the UK Voted to Leave the EU by Michael Ashcroft, Kevin Culwick (Paperback, 2016)🤦♂️😁
In direct terms, the forthcoming EU budget is not supposed to affect the UK. In reality, it will, because the EU will be seeking every penny it can from the UK in unlawful claims, in order to try to offset the billions which the other EU countries are now fighting over.
These things will matter this year — BBC take note
Before the UK’s EU Referendum, the summits of the 28 leaders of the EU member countries were barely reported on by the UK media. Indeed this was also true of the proceedings of the EU Parliament and the statements of the EU Commission President and his Commissioners. “Nothing to see here,” seemed to be the stance of most of the media.
With the announcement of the EU Referendum, however, some reporting increased — mostly from a pro-EU, Remainer perspective. This latter point was true even of Eurosceptic newspapers like the Daily Telegraph, whose Europe Editor was inexplicably allowed to continue his pro-EU bias.
His output paled into insignificance, of course, compared to the massed pro-EU onslaught from the extremist Remainer-Orcs who still dominate the News and Current Affairs Department of the BBC. Even today there is an article written by David Dimbleby, its nothing more than a hatchet job on the PM that is getting Brexit done something that the BBC and Dimbleby wanted to stop at all cost. Who can ever forget the BBCs Question Time and its Remainer host who always sided with the four Remain guests and would always shut down the one person who voted to Leave along with making certain that the audience was always pro-Remain. Who can ever forget his face along with all his chums reporting on the Referendum result? The night started so well for them, all smiles, joking by 5 am they were all but crying. Since then this bitter Remain BBC, along with its bitter Remain employee has been chomping at the bit to embarrass anyone who is Leaver.
Macron to claim compensation for not being allowed to take our fish
Yesterday the French President gave an interview to local French newspapers. So far it has gone unreported by the BBC, but I have read it in full.
It’s punchy stuff.
British fishing grounds are among the richest in the North-East Atlantic zone where most of the EU catch is hauled in.
Future fishing rights in UK waters are likely to be a flashpoint in negotiations between Brussels and London on a post-Brexit relationship.
Macron
“I want to tell our fishermen that I will fight for them. If we do not get the same access as today, we will seek compensation,” Macron told several regional French newspapers.
“I will not let our fishermen be impacted by a British vote they could do nothing about.”
Current rules allow EU boats to fish as close as six nautical miles to Britain’s coast, but with Britain’s exit from the EU, its exclusive economic zone will reach as far as 200 miles offshore, raising questions over the narrow channel between Britain and Europe. Regaining control of Britain’s waters was a headline issue for Brexit campaigners. British fishermen say too many concessions were made when Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973.
If people want to see how the EU fishing vessels of France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland plunder the fish in British waters then log onto this site and filter out all other shipping vessels you will see them in abundance. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-8.7/centery:55.3/zoom:5
[ Sources: EU Council | EU Commission | French regional papers |
