The Whips office have told her that the numbers are not going to add up once the bills get to the committee stage?
Ha! Languages can be so political. On arrival in Mallorca in June I went into what was clearly a locals' cafe and asked for a white coffee in Catalan. The guy serving glared at me and pointedly repeated my order in Spanish.
The EU eurocrats have decided the referendum was null and void because the result was not what they ordered. Somebody mentioned "democracy" to them, they replied "what is this word. We do not know the meaning of this".
I do not recall that anyone in the EU. has cast doubt upon the result of the referendum. If they have then please enlighten us as to who, when, and the source of your information. During the course of the referendum campaign itself there was also absolutely no EU. imput whatsoever - because it was considered unwise to interfere in a British internal manner. In fact Obama had much more to say about it. On reflection, there should have been more imput from Brussels at that stage to counter some of the lies that were going around. I would declare it null and void but I do not think anyone in Brussels has said such a thing.
I was inferring to the eurocrats previous antics of demanding that member states vote again if the outcome was not to their liking. They do not understand the meaning of democracy.
They would if they could. Brexit was a 'stupid' decision and could still be reversed, says top EU official
This is not a case of meddling, but is simply stating the legal position ie. the Brexit process is legally reversible if the British decide to reverse it. Something which everyone knows to be the case because no country can be forced to leave, it is not legally a 'one way street'. This is, actually, a very open hearted comment because it cannot be in the interests of the EU. if countries think that they can go this far with negotiations and then opt back if it doesn't work. Similarly, a decision to reverse Brexit would, inevitably, lead to a certain loss of face on our side.
Brexit will happen, thankfully. We fought two wars to avoid being dominated by the Germans, no thanks.
I thought that we would eventually come back to war comic material !!!!! Just to remind you that Germany has only 16% of the population of the EU. It produces around 20% of the GDP and pays around 22% of the EU. Budget. Their representation in the EU. Parliament is proportional to their population and they are underrepresented in the EU. Commission (also in the EU. negotiating team). This does not sound like domination. If Britain were the dynamic force which you claim it to be, and, could work better with France, then this would, in any case, more than balance any perceived German strength. Germany has the highest GDP in the EU. that is fact - but for a nation of 80 million people it would be a source of instability if that were not the case. Germany's days as the biggest EU. nation are numbered anyway - they have a falling population and all available demographic predictions suggest that France will overtake them by around 2030. Germany's export surplus is another matter - this is not good for the EU. particularly because spending power has stagnated here for many years and Germany is not in a position of being the biggest market for European goods, which it could be.
Nothing happens in Europe unless Merkel agrees. Her personal declaration to invite hordes of migrants to make the suicidal journey to Europe showed her complete disregard of the views of fellow member states. Likewise her statement the other night was likely to have been made without consultation with so called partners. Germany also has excessive power within the ECB, she particularly takes a very hard line on Greece, no wonder there is extensive animosity towards the Germans by the Greeks.
Germany could be outvoted at any time by a combination of other countries - or even just by France and one other. Merkel has a certain status in Europe - that is true, but it stems from having been in office for 12 years - an incoming chancellor would not have the same status, at least not initially. I wish we had a system like in the USA. where the head of state has to change after a certain number of years. I completely defend her decision to open Germany's doors to refugees - this was done to prevent a human catastophe which had already built up in the Balkans. She was also right by saying there was no upper limit - how can there be with a humanitarian issue such as this. It is also true that an organization such as the EU. with 500 million inhabitants should be able to absorb the numbers of refugees who were actually coming. What would history have said about countries which had refused to take refugees from World War 2 ? Why should Germany keep on paying for countries like Poland if they are not prepared to share some responsibility on humanitarian issues like this ? I agree on the subject of Greece, and we are trying very hard to replace Merkel because the politics of austerity do not work. But I thought that you were a friend of austerity - you always supported it until this case.
Austerity, or living beyond your means, as you well know covers a very wide area. The UK's version of austerity has been extremely mild, just limiting increases in expenditure. The Irish had a much harsher version which involved actual cuts. It has been a success in Ireland. The Greek situation is completely different. The attitude from the EU has been nothing short of a disgraceful lack of humanity. The IMF has tried very hard to encourage the ECB to soften it's stance, without success. The rigid Germanic fiscal attitude is to blame. I am all for sensible and responsible fiscal management but Merkel is punishing a whole nation for fiddling by previous Greek politicians. Their debts can never be repaid, the lenders were encouraged to lend by EU officials for political reasons. They should take the financial hit for their reckless lending, proper due diligence was avoided. The Greek plight could be substantially eased if it were not for the overriding need to safeguard the political experiment, the Euro.
I agree that what we need for Greece is the introduction of Euro Bonds, maybe even a sort of Marshall Plan (the original one left out the Southern European nations because they weren't considered strategically important). Had the politics of austerity been rule of the day in 1945 Germany would never have risen again. I agree over the politics of Merkel - but the Germans as a nation cannot be held accountable for this, many Germans also suffer under the politics of austerity. In fact, in terms of personal assets, the Germans are poorer than the Italians. I am also not a great friend of the Euro - it was unnecessary, could have been brought in as an additional currency for international trade only, should have waited for fiscal unity etc. etc. But the Euro is not the EU. It is also worth remembering that the Germans were one of the most sceptical countries about its introduction - the Italians wanted it, the Spanish wanted it etc. etc. but the German government took a lot of convincing on this. After having had one currency union ie. that with the East German mark they were not keen on another so soon afterwards. Do not try to claim that Germany is to blame for all of the World's woes.
