Tin Foil Hat Alert : Masons meet EU Presidents

This event is taking place today

Amusingly the press release to go with it rather fails to mention the Masonic aspect of the whole affair.

Today Commission President José Manuel Barroso received leading representatives of philosophical and non-confessional organisations at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels for a meeting which he co-chaired together with Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council. Participants discussed the promotion of rights and liberties in Europe's neighbourhood and in the European Union itself.

You would be none the wiser reading this now would you?
However out of 16 invitees 10 are Lodge bosses, alongs side the Humanist association.

But reading this one might be a little concerned that the Freemasons are now in it.

The representatives of philosophical and non-confessional organisations welcomed the EU’s engagement to promote and protect democratic rights and liberties inside the European Union and beyond. They expressed their readiness to work side by side with the European institutions to promote democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, human rights and social justice which are indispensable in democratic societies.

Barroso congratulates Germany for Geography.

Ever heard of the Golden Victoria Award - me neither, though it sounds something to do with the breakfast cereal industry.


Anyhow it appears that Donald Tusk is this year's recipient of most sycophantic European. And Jose took time away from his busy schedule of dreaming up new ways to ensure that the people's of Europe have no say in the Governance of their countries to send a video congratulations.

The text is extraodinary,

Dear Donald, I congratulate you to be the European of the Year, ladies and gentlemen, I also want to congratulate Germany for having the new Poland as its neighbour country. Thank you very much.

Another recipient was that nice chap Henry Kissenger.

The Boundless arrogance of Brussels.

Fraser Nelson has got his bit in on the Coffee House, but here is my Tuppen'th.

It is the way they tell'em that cracks us up. If you were going to offer a massive great bribe then you have to ask how you would do it. This of course is a thought experiment, I wouldn't expect anybody to even contemplate such a thing in reality. Anyhow, how would you do it.
Would you quietly make the proposal hugger mugger, or maybe ask for somebody else to do it for you, a go-between, somebody that you both trust?
Or would you set you terms for the bribe in an incoherent couple of hundred words in a national Sunday Newspaper?
That the EU Commission President Barroso in offering David Cameron a 25 billion Euro bribe in this week's Sunday Times tells a number of stories.
The first is to shine a bright light on the arrogance of the European Union elite. The feeling that in some he would bounce the UK into accepting a significant increase in the EU budget. To do this he would appeal over the heads of the UK politicians directly to the public - no doubt bizarrely thinking that the British public are;

a) More pro European than their politicians

or

b) More stupid than their politicians.
Sadly for Mr Barroso he and his advisor are transparently out of touch and disconnected with the British public who are

a) Significantly more Eurosceptic.

and

b) Not as stupid as their politicians.

He must have calculated that the public would rise up against the Government and demand the cash on offer. The point is of course that he is trying to bribe us with our own money. After all where does he think it is going to come from except the taxpayer. We are not that daft.

He also tried to sugar the pill by suggesting that the money would become available to the UK just before the next slated general election, allowing Cameron to go on a vote winning spending spree. So far the Treasury have rejected the offer, as Barroso always knew they would. But that great pile of cash will look increasingly tempting as the austerity measures start to bite and as public sector workers continue to strike.

Barroso thinks the taxpayers are thick

Well it is the only thing I can work out from this statement made in the European Parliament today,

"Money spent by Europe allows governments to reduce spending at home"

Lokk Manuel, it doesn't matter who spends it. It is our money you are spending. Either my Government taxes me, or your government taxes me. Whichever it is I am out of pocket and a collection of people who think they know better than me spend my money.

Now I prefer, if this has to happen at all for the money to be collected by a bunch of people that I, and those I consent to be governed with have the opportunity of getting rid of through that bizzare innovation, an election.

You, and your dread grey cohorts are immutable, immovable and impervious to the wishes of the people. So you and you wizard wheezes can go hang.

Get this into your thick Iberian head.

It

Is

Not

Your

Money

First they send over 'technical assistance'

It is one of those well worn tracks of international affairs. When one big powerful country wants to take over a smaller less powerful country. But wants to do it subtlety.

It starts with the offer of technical assistance. It is how the East India Company operated in India. It was what Kennedy described the first involvement in Vietnam. It now appears to be what is happening in Greece.

It is the provision of 'technical assistance'.

Here are some comments of Barroso quoted on Monday,

The Commission president said he had "no doubt" of the Greek government's determination to push through the necessary structural reforms. "But there are problems in terms of administrative capacity," he said.

This was quoted elsewhere on Agence Europe,

In Brussels on Monday evening the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, is believed to have expressed his interest in this initiative. Technical assistance may also be forthcoming to help Greece to resolve a deficit in its "administrative capacity", said Barroso.

So what we are seeing here is the Commission will be sending over 'experts' to provide technical assistance and 'help' the Greek authorities carry out measures that the Greek people do not want, against their will.

The policies are those demanded by the suzerain overlords of Brussels.

Is Barroso Peter Sellars in disguise?

I only ask because I came across this great pile of steaming platitudes, and I thought of the magnificent Party Political Speech created by Peter Sellars in 1958,



Barroso

"Future belongs to those who prepare for it today. The future is now."

Sellars

"Does this mean, I hear you cry, that we can no longer look forward to the future that is to come?"

Update
Somebody has questioned Sellars own politics, and I checked and was impressed to discover this defence of free speech and opposition to a no platform policy,

In January 1960, the British Film Institute announced a film lecture series; among the guest speakers were Sellers, the leftist film gadfly Ivor Montagu and Leni Riefenstahl, director of the Hitler documentary "Triumph of the Will" a quarter-century before. Montagu denounced Riefenstahl, the BFI revoked her invitation, and Sellers, the half-Jewish comic, issued this modest, brave statement in defense of Hitler's favorite director: "Miss Riefenstahl has presumably been invited to lecture because of her outstanding talents as a filmmaker. Alongside her contributions to the art of filmmaking, our efforts, if I may say so, Mr Montagu, appear very puny indeed." And Sellers' gesture appears both brave and gallant.

Thou bleak December wind

From what we can see the dry leaves to be blown from the tree this Decenmber will be the sheaves of papers produced by Mr Van Rompuy and Mr Barroso. You can see from this joint interview that they have what might be called differing opinions as to what will happen at the next European Council meeting in reference to states voting rights,

First van Rompuy makes it clear that he is not going to be providing detail on the German plans,
The questioner points out that in the Council Conclusions plans to strip are not "any more envisaged".

The European Council will revert to this matter at its December meeting with a view to taking the final decision both on the outline of a crisis mechanism and on a limited treaty amendment so that any change can be ratified at the latest by mid-2013.

The President of the European Council intends to subsequently examine in consultation with the Member States the issue of the right of euro area members to participate in decision making in EMU-related procedures in the case of a permanent threat to the stability of the euro area as a whole.

Van Rompy says that the above makes it clear that December is not the time to sort this out. Note 'subsequently', ie it is something on the table.
He says

"The text is very clear, I have a mandate to examine the problem and I will report to the European council but it will not be in December".

Barosso however thinks differently,

"There will be no suspension of voting rights, that's been ruled out, that certainly wont be part of this limited amendment"

So which is it? Will the German requirement for a Treaty change to deal with the fact that the current system for the Euro is hamstrung by its own rules as so effectively described here in the FT,

In terms of substance, the aim must be to overcome the big logical inconsistency of three principles underpinning the euro: “No bail-out, no exit, no default”. The first two are firmly enshrined in the European law. Default is legally possible, but politically unacceptable, at least for now. The EU is simply not in a position to handle the repercussions of a sovereign default.

The incompatibility of those goals lies at the heart of the eurozone’s governance crisis. At least one of those principles will have to be sacrificed.

The “no exit” clause will survive. This leaves bail-out and default. But would a regime that combines bail-out and default satisfy the German constitutional court? While Article 48.6 is part of the treaty the court approved, the court will nevertheless scrutinise whether the new arrangements constitute a power shift, and whether this reduces the Bundestag’s influence.

What seems to be increasingly clear is that Germany's Constitutional Court will rule that the EU is acting illegally. Thus Merkle has to have change, that will satisfy the jurists of Karlsrurh, but to do so will cause consternation amongst the smaller EU countries and trigger referenda in Ireland at the very least, and probably in the UK as well.

Or the EU continues acting illegally, no referenda but Merkle in an impossible position.

Interesting times.

Apropos of nothing. Isn't there something a little 1984ish about the concept of a Permanent Crisis Mechanism?

The people are in desperate need of more EU

Well that seems to be the message of a prime piece of Alice in Wonderlandery produced not long ago by Mr Barroso,

“It is worth looking back at the negative referenda which derailed the ratification process of the European Constitution. This told us something. It told us that European citizens were worried, about their jobs, their pensions, their education, their quality of life and their environment. And they looked to the EU for answers,”

Of course they did, of course they did.

HT Bruno

Waaah Waaahh Waaah ... It's not fair

´Jose Manual Barroso; the European Commission President is out of sorts.

Faced with a plunging popularity of the EU institutions, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has blamed national capitals for not defending the European project during the economic crisis.

The devastating results of a Eurobarometer published last week showing that support for EU institutions is waning across the continent are due to the economic crisis, argued Mr Barroso in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

No you post-Maoist overpromoted bureacrat, The European Union is unpopular because it is unresponsive, bureacratic, undemocratic and irrelevant to people's lives.

When the crisis came it faffed.

It's response to everything is to aggregate more power to itself, claiming preposterously that the people - whoever they are - want more Europe. Fiddlesticks.

Let's get this straight. The national governments are responsible to no-one but their own electorates. They have no reason, nor do they have a duty (except in the minds of the Eurocrats) to the EU and its good name.

They are hired and fired by their own people. They have to respond to the hopes and fears of their own peopkle.

You know what the short hand for all that stuff is don't you, Mr Barroso?

It's called democtracy, and if you don't like it that's a pity, because you are going to get more of it, much much more.

Please translate

"The bottom line is that Europe has a growth deficit which is putting our future at risk."

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso today.

So why is the the Tory/Barroso meeting taking place in secret?

Tories having secret meetings with the European Commission? Check.
Ken Clarke doing the negotiating? Check
Tories not to be trusted on Europe? Check


OK, so it is normal for the main opposition party to meet up with civil servants before an election. So to that extent Ken Clarke's meeting tomorrow with President Barroso is no news at al.

But the fact that the meeting was 'un-agendered' whereas Barroso's meetings with the Bulgarian President and a group of Portugese bishops suggests something funny gouing on.

If Dave wasn't embarrassed then why is it secret? Preparing for a key capitulation to the EU? Check.