December 2011
Stand alone!
December's
Strasbourg session was dominated by the response to Britain's decision
not to sign up to the summit deal on rescuing the Eurozone.
The bitterness and bile directed at our country was shocking. I had
to raise a point of order with the president objecting to the xenophobic
ranting of the likes of former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
Britain stands accused of being 'isolated' in Europe. Well, we were
isolated in Europe in 1939, and we did ok. In fact, we are always at
our best
when we stand alone. These are exciting times.
Ernst & Young are predicting a 'bleak winter' for the Eurozone. Standard & Poor's
are threatening to downgrade the entire Eurozone - even the formidable
German economy is now being pulled down by the Euro. The French bank
Credite Agricole - the country's largest retail bank - has announced
that is laying off staff, and that it is to shut down in 15 of the 50
countries it operates in. The Lithuanian bank Snoras has collapsed. The
Latvian bank Latvijas Krajbanka has just been put into liquidation, whilst
Latvians withdraw deposits from Swedbank amidst rumours of financial
difficulties. The Baltic States were eager to enter the Eurozone, and
so pegged their currencies to the Euro. They may not be so keen now.
In the far east, markets have fallen due to a lack of trust in EU leaders
to resolve the crisis, and the Euro has dropped to below the benchmark
$1.30.
All in all, it is a good time to be isolated!
Baroness Cathy Ashton
The High representative endured a mammoth grilling from MEPs this week on a variety of subjects. She was asked questions on many issues, and even answered one or two of them. It is sad to consider that what should be an important event was at one point attended by only 20 or so MEPs out of a total of 732. However, as a prominent Middle East peace activist told one of my staff on Tuesday "she is of absolutely no use at all", and so we should not be surprised if she failed to arouse much enthusiasm. I, however, kept her company throughout her ordeal and kept the questions coming. Sadly we fell out a little at one point after she was somewhat rude to me, but she apologised, and so in the Spirit of Christmas I forgave her. It will not always be so, I can promise her!
For more from Nikki click the links below
• Nikki
Says they are British Forces, not EU forces
• What
do negotiations with Russia say about your role?
Dead in the Water
The EU received
a bloody nose from Morocco this week. An EU-Morocco fishing agreement
was due to be renewed which
would have seen
the EU paying €35
million a year in order to plunder North African waters.
There are some serious human rights issues involved in this,
and
so under pressure
from
activists and the media MEPs were effectively forced to reject
the extension. The Moroccans responded swiftly and decisively
by ordering
all EU boats
to leave their waters immediately.
These fisheries agreements are always very bad for indigenous
African fishing communities who have seen their stocks
depleted and their livelihoods
ruined.
The EU loves a beneficial crisis...
The current crisis
is being used as justification for EU member states to pool their resources
in the area of
defence procurement.
This is,
of course, helpful when it comes to further harmonisation
of our armed forces.
One MEP claimed that the EU has 2 million soldiers,
whereas the US has "only
1 1/2 million". I don't know what he was implying,
but he was quickly put in his place and reminded that
the EU
does not
have any
soldiers
at all - they belong to the member states.
I voted against this, as I think it is in our long
term interest to remain totally independent of the
EU in the
area of defence.
State Aid - but not for British Workers.
This week the
parliament approved the mobilisation of the European Globalisation
Adjustment Fund
(EGF) in
favour of the Trentino-Alto
Adige/Südtirol
region of Italy.
€ 3.9 million has been allocated for the retraining of 528 redundant workers.
Yet, according to Herbert Dorfmann MEP, who represents this region,
the region has the lowest unemployment rate
in Italy at just 3%.
The British government has never made a single claim on the
EGF, despite having staff at the Dept for Work
and Pensions to
cover this area.
In fact, I was told that the UK was not eligible
for this assistance, although
turned out to be a blatant untruth. The EU
makes €500
million a year available for retraining and
reintegration of redundant
workers, and whilst our neighbours hoover this
money up enthusiastically, British
workers have never received a single penny.
The list of companies whose workers have received
this aid includes
the likes of
Volvo, Peugeot,
Renault, Nokia.... but not one penny for us.
Uzbekistan
The EU often enters into treaties, conveniently overlooking little problems that might upset the apple cart. I like to remind them of these problems where I can. And so, in response to concerns flagged up by a constituent, I objected to doing deals with Uzbekistan, and country in which child labour is routinely exploited to the point that schools are actually shut down during the harvest season.
And so...
This year has
been an exciting one for us. My petition calling for a referendum
on our
continued membership
of the EU prompted
a debate
in
the House of Commons, and other similar
petitions are out there calling for
the same thing.
We must keep the
pressure
on.
The Euro is facing collapse. It would
be nicer to walk away from the EU amicably,
but if it
takes a
disaster
to help us take back
control
of our country, then so be it.
I wish you all the very best for Christmas
and the New Year - let us recharge
our batteries and
come
out fighting
again in
January. We are
closer now to regaining our national
sovereignty than we have ever been
before!
See more click on the links below:
• Nikki
calls for the end of the European Arrest Warrant
•
Nikki Sinclaire says the UK needs immigration,
but on our terms, not yours!
•
Nikki Sinclaire discusses budgetary
control
of EU financial assistance
to Afghanistan
•
Nikki talks about lack of transparency
in
the EU
Campaign For A Referendum NEW Petition
We achieved our first goal of collecting 120,000+ signatures gaining the debate in Parliament we wanted on 24th October 2011. To keep the pressure on the government, we started a NEW petition on 31st October 2011. The aim is to collect as many signatures as we can in 12 months. Please register your signature on the link below even if you signed the previous petition.
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