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Dave1510
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Location: Manchester, UK
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Re: Reflections on the last 2 days
quote:
Uberposter wrote:
quote:
Dave1510 wrote:
Uber, I know you don't believe this but not everyone you disagree with is a Europhile. Will you stop bandying the word around as a general insult? It has a specific meaning - someone who supports the idea of European unification (mainly through the European Union (EU)) and generally supports further 'deepening' of European integration, specifically in the context of political argument over the current and future status of the EU and its policies.
I have never posted anything along those lines.
It means much more than that, because you failed to mention that people who object to eurosceptics telling the truth are by association europhiles.
If by truth, you mean that anyone who objects to any post by a eurosceptic, no matter how bizarre, irrational or prejudiced is a europhile, then you must live in a world full of europhiles. It is also a classic tactic used by extremists of any kind to brand anyone who criticises them by giving them a political label.
If you care to peruse my (nearly) 3000 posts, you will find that I generally don't express a view on closer European integration (either pro- or anti-), I don't express a view on the European political structures (either pro- or anti-) and I don't express a view on other European cultures (either pro- or anti-). I do however point out when you are having an irrational rant or using offensive language but that is to do with your behaviour not your personal politics.
So please do not presume to know my political views on Europe when I have never expressed them here.
---
"Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained" William Blake (1757-1827)
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11/Apr/08, 1:07
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Kittyxxx121
With the wisdom of solomon
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Registered: 02-2005
Location: In bed with Tiesto
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Re: Reflections on the last 2 days
I thought he just bored the opposition to death.
--- Cause it's easier to fly,
There's a place that never dies in the southern sun,
Cause your love is on the run,
Let me out,
Set me free
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11/Apr/08, 13:43
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dehlilah 2
Trained with Florence
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Re: Reflections on the last 2 days
not sure how this will work with just one person moderating....think your number of posters will decline and subject matter tail to similar topics with very little lightheartedness....this site ysed to make me smile and want to partake now its dull and boring...cos a lot of threads have gone...in favour of those supported by one presumably....
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12/Apr/08, 16:48
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dehlilah 2
Trained with Florence
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Re: Reflections on the last 2 days
i was lighthearted but has taken time to read all posts from when i voiced my own opinion and if only 2 moderators left that still means we have lost some good ones and posters too so i will form my own opinions ta and take note of info i have at hand
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13/Apr/08, 17:25
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Uberposter
With the wisdom of solomon
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Re: Reflections on the last 2 days
EU Development Commissioner admits that "fashion for biofuels could be a catastrophe"
Reuters notes that divisions are appearing within the EU Commission on biofuels. Development Commissioner Louis Michel reportedly told the Belgian Senate on Tuesday that "I have long said that the fashion for biofuels could be a catastrophe especially in countries which are not self-sufficient in food".
The Chairman of the EU Environment Agency told the IHT that biofuel targets were the result of a blinkered approach to EU policy-making: "the basic problem is [the Commission] thought of transport alone, without considering all these other effects. And we don't understand those very well yet."
Richard Pike, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, has a letter in the Independent, in which he argues that the EU's target for 10% use of biofuels by 2020 will do more harm than good for the environment: "Any targets for biofuel use set for 2020 is almost certainly going to increase the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere over the period to that date."
Simon Jenkins has a comment piece in the Guardian on biofuels, arguing that "Until recently, most greenery has seemed no more than a feelgood parlour game. Now it is getting serious... Playing these games has so far made a few people very rich at the cost of the taxpayer. Now the cost is in famine and starvation."
Reuters also notes that 'EU experts' estimate that at most only 6 percent of the EU target can be met from domestic production and at least 4 percent will have to be imported. Imported biofuels raise serious concerns, according to the IHT, as rain forests and peat swamp are already being cleared to make way for biofuel plantations, a process that produces more emissions than the biofuels can save.
Independent Pike IHT Guardian Jenkins Reuters El Pais
Swedish Social Democrats split on EU; prominent critic quits party over Vaxholm case warning of moves towards a "grand, federal Europe"
Prominent Swedish Social Democrat Sören Wibe has an article in Dagens Nyheter, announcing that he is quitting the party and criticising the leadership for its "hypocritical" EU policies. He argues that the party is trying to hide the adverse effects of the recent Vaxholm case on the "Swedish social model", and what he sees as a gradual move towards a "grand, federal Europe".
Swedish Radio Dagens Nyheter
Euro architect: "uncertain" future for single currency; risks of break-up if EU moves too far to social model
Europe's monetary union, which launched the euro almost a decade ago, remains an "experiment" with the outcome "likely to remain uncertain for a considerable time to come", according to a new book by Otmar Issing, former ECB Chief Economist. Issing argues that if the EU moves in the direction of a welfare state with harmonised welfare entitlements and even tighter labour market regulation, "the 'single-size' monetary policy would simply not fit at all."
Meanwhile, the CEO of EADS has said the strength of the euro means "We are at levels which are becoming unbearable". However, Eurogroup President Jean Claude Juncker yesterday denied that the strong Euro was currently hurting exports, but that "The moment will come where the exchange rate level will start to cause serious harm to the European economy."
FT Reuters Washington Post EUobserver Bloomberg
French Europe Minister: if citizens do not see a difference in defence policy after Lisbon Treaty "then we will have failed"
In a lengthy interview with Public Senat, French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet says, "The main development of the Lisbon Treaty is also in the area of foreign and defence policy - we found a good compromise there. If, on these subjects, citizens do not see a difference between the before and after, then we will have failed... One of our objectives for the French Presidency is ambitious. It is to ensure that there is a security Europe and a defence Europe, and that is something that's important. Because it is not normal for an area of 500 million citizens which wants to economically influence the world, to not have a common security policy."
French Foreign Office
Lack of EU transparency citizens' main concern, says European Ombudsman
Lack of transparency, including refusal of information, continues to top the list of citizens' complaints against EU institutions, the European Ombudsman said yesterday. According to a fresh report, Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros received 3,211 new complaints in 2007 with German citizens (16 percent), Spain (11 percent), France (eight percent) and Poland (seven percent) registering the most complaints. The overwhelming majority of cases, amounting to 64 percent of the total, were targeted against the European Commission.
EUobserver
France calls for greater Brussels powers so that Lisbon Strategy can be achieved
The European Union's Lisbon Strategy for making its economy as competitive as that of the US should be radically redrawn with a bigger role for Brussels institutions, according to a report for the French government. It argues that EU institutions should have more powers in coordinating the member states as well as "naming and shaming" the laggards more openly in order to motivate them. The report also criticises French performance, noting that Paris meets only three out of 14 Lisbon objectives.
FT EUobserver
Nuclear energy a solution to climate change, says Brussels
EUobserver reports that EU Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, has underscored the role that nuclear energy has to play in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe and its importance in helping deliver the bloc's energy needs at a time of "persistently high" oil prices. "Nuclear energy makes an important contribution to our fight against climate change and our security of energy supply," he said yesterday.
EUobserver
Berlusconi steps up anti-immigration rhetoric as Lega Nord increase in influence
The Telegraph reports that Silvio Berlusconi has described illegal immigrants as an "army of evil". He said that he would "step up neighbourhood police, who can be an army of good, placing themselves between the Italian people and the army of evil". He also vowed to deport non-European Union citizens who "do not have work or home and are forced into crime in order to live". He has also pledged to turn Italy into a federal state by splitting it into North and South.
Foreign Policy and the Telegraph look at how Lega Nord is the big winner from the Italian elections, taking 8.3% of the vote, making its leader Umberto Bossi the kingmaker in Berlusconi's coalition. According to El Pais José Manuel Barroso told Berlusconi that at this "important time for European integration he was relying on his contribution to ensure the success of the European project."
Foreign Policy Telegraph Telgraph2 El Pais El Pais 2 Guardian
EUobserver reports that Franco Frattini, the EU Commissioner in charge of justice and home affairs and one of five Commission vice-presidents, is likely to become Italy's Foreign Minister in Silvio Berlusconi's new government.
EUobserver
8% of French people think Britain has the most influence in the EU
A new OpinionWay poll has found that 72% of French people think that Germany "is the country that has the most influence on EU decisions." France is in second position, on 14%, and the UK was in third place with 8%.
Fenêtre sur l'Europe
---
The dense seriousness of small minds prevails.
Barry, RMN RGN (ret.)
A page of history is worth a pound of logic.
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16/Apr/08, 13:58
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