Archive for the ‘European Union’ Category
November 12, 2012
It was inevitable of course, but the real problem is that the EU is only backing down as a political necessity but continues to maintain its self-righteous, religiously fanatic and quite unintelligent attitude. In any event the tax on airlines for carbon dioxide emissions was doomed to failure after the US, China and India expressed their clear opposition and banned their airlines from complying with the arrogant and grandiose EU directive. To save some face for the EU it’s so-called Climate Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, (a modern day King Canute) has only suspended the measure for one year but I see no possibility of it ever coming back in the foreseeable future. She does tend to see herself as a pious knight in shining armour holding back the evil forces of climate change but she would be better occupied in tilting against the plague of windmills disfiguring most of Europe.
BBC:
The European Union has agreed to suspend its rules that require airlines flying to and from airports in the EU to pay for their carbon emissions. The rules had been unpopular with countries outside Europe such as the US, China and India.
Climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said she had proposed “stopping the clock for one year”.
Tags:airline carbon tax, European Commission, European Union
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, Europe, European Union | Comments Off on EU backs down on its stupid carbon tax for airlines
October 17, 2012
Over the last 30+ years of doing business around the world the one certain indicator for me that corruption is rife and that a bribe is being solicited is when unforeseen delays occur in a permitting or licencing process and/or when an “approval” is conditional or restricted. Politicians and bureaucrats everywhere use the bidding, procurement and regulatory machinery as their opportunity to line their pockets. And the appearance of sand in bureaucratic machinery is a sure sign that a politician or a bureaucrat is available to remove the sand or to oil the machinery – for a consideration.
The EU is probably the most sophisticated and successful corruptocracy in the world.
Yahoo (Reuters) reports on the latest case of EU corruption to come to light:
The European Union’s top health official resigned on Tuesday after an anti-fraud investigation connected him to an attempt to influence EU tobacco legislation, the European Commission said.
The EU’s anti-fraud office OLAF found that a Maltese businessman had tried to use his contacts withCommissioner John Dalli, who is Maltese, for financial gain by offering to influence future EU legislation on tobacco products.
“The OLAF report did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Mr Dalli but did consider that he was aware of these events,” the Commission said in a statement, saying that Dalli had resigned with immediate effect.
Dalli has rejected the OLAF’s findings, the statement said.
The statement said it was up to Maltese judicial authorities to decide if they wanted to pursue the case.
The OLAF investigation followed a complaint by snuff-and- cigar-maker Swedish Match in May 2012, saying that the businessman – who was not named – sought financial advantages in return for influencing Commission proposals, particularly on the EU’s current export ban on snus, a Swedish-style moist snuff.
“It’s unpleasant that these things happen. We can only hope that the process going forward to create a new directive is transparent and honest,” Swedish Match spokesman Fredrik Peyron said.
“We don’t know all the details that have emerged in this report. But if he has been involved in this it is reasonable (that Dalli resign).”
Snus, which is Swedish Match’s main cash cow, is banned in the EU for health reasons, except in Sweden which negotiated a permanent exemption in its EU accession talks in the 1990s.
Swedish Match hopes the European Commission will lift its ban on snus, which is put under the lip, mostly in pouches. The Swedish government has been pushing for a lifting of the ban, saying the health risks are not proportionate to the ban.
Tags:corruption, Corruptocracy, European Anti-fraud Office, European Union, John Dalli, OLAF, Snuff
Posted in Business, Corruption, European Union | Comments Off on Snuff case is just the tip of the EU corruption iceberg
September 22, 2012
The costs of coal fired power generation in Europe have been artificially inflated for some time now by the imposition of various forms of carbon taxes. These taxes and penalties – which are quite arbitrary – serve political and electoral goals and generally pander to the alarmist view of climate change. The electricity consumer has taken the hit.
Bloomberg reports:
Coal Era Beckons for Europe as Carbon Giveaway Finishes
European utilities are poised to add more coal-fired power capacity than natural gas in the next four years, boosting emissions just as the era of free carbon permits ends.
Power producers from EON AG to RWE AG (RWE) will open six times more coal-burning plants than gas-fed units by 2015, UBS AG said in a Sept. 5 research note. Profits at coal-fired power stations may more than double by then, according to a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. report published on Sept. 13.
(more…)
Tags:carbon credits, coal-fired power generation, Electricity generation, European Union
Posted in Alarmism, Energy, European Union | Comments Off on In Europe, coal now offers both lower prices for electricity consumers and higher profits for utilities
May 9, 2012
Finally, David Cameron actually voiced what all politicians in Europe know but will not voice publicly. And they will not voice it publicly because a single European Government – in the current state of European politics – would be a many-headed monster – of bureaucracy, of over-represented fanatic fringes, of minority oppression, of waste, of scams and inefficiency.
Reuters:
A successful euro zone requires a single government if it is to work properly, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.
“There’s nowhere in the world that has a single currency without having more of a single government,” Cameron told Britain’s Daily Mail.
(more…)
Tags:David Cameron, Euro, European Union, Eurozone, Single currency, Single European government
Posted in Behaviour, European Union, Politics | Comments Off on “Single currency needs a single government” and a single European government would be a monster
May 6, 2012
Sarkozy has lost in France according to Belgian and Swiss sources though the exit polls in France are not yet out. Hollande is expected to win by 5%.
The exit polls are also out in Greece.
In Greece, the only two parties supporting the Eurozone bailout and the austerity measures – PASOK and New Democracy – will probably not be able to form the next government. And that means that the chances of Europe leaving the Euro are greatly enhanced. In the short term this will cause massive turbulence in the Eurozone.
(more…)
Tags:Elections, Euro, Eurozone, France, Greece, New Democracy, Nicolas Sarkozy, PASOK
Posted in Economy, European Union, France, Greece, Politics | Comments Off on More turmoil awaits Europe as Sarkozy loses and Greeks vote against Europe
March 25, 2012
The UK press led by Murdoch’s Sunday Times – is going to town with the story.
But why is anybody surprised?
The Tory Party co-treasurer, Peter Cruddas, was caught on film by some intrepid Murdoch reporters from the Sunday Times pointing out the benefits of paying for access. He has now resigned – for being caught on tape it would seem. He surely did not resign for doing what was expected of him in his job.
“One hundred grand is not Premier League… it’s not bad… But two hundred grand to 250 is premier league… what you would get is, when we talk about your donations the first thing we want to do is get you at the Cameron/Osborne dinners.”
“It’ll be awesome for your business. You’ll be… well pleased. Because your guests will be photographed with David Cameron. We do that, you know.”
“If you’re unhappy about something, we will listen to you and put it into the policy committee at number 10 – we feed all feedback to the policy committee.”
(more…)
Tags:Cash for access, David Cameron, Peter Cruddas, political corruption, Sunday Times, UK corruption
Posted in Corruption, Ethics, European Union, Politics, UK | Comments Off on Who’s surprised? £250k for dinner with Cameron and Osborne and some policy input
February 11, 2012
zu Guttenberg is back and has friends in high places. Baron Cut and Paste rides again.
This might be considered ironic but being the European commission I put it down to plain stupidity. To have a plagiarist who was brought down by net activism but who then bought his way out of criminal prosecution (by paying €20,000) as a special advisor on net activism illustrates the stupidity and the corruption at the centre of the European Commission.
Stupid is as stupid does.
From TechDirt:
European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes has invited Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a former Federal Minister of Defence, and of Economics and Technology, in Germany, to advise on how to provide ongoing support to Internet users, bloggers and cyber-activists living under authoritarian regimes. This appointment forms a key element of a new “No Disconnect Strategy” to uphold the EU’s commitment to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected both online and off-line, and that internet and other information and communication technology (ICT) can remain a driver of political freedom, democratic development and economic growth.
Of course, that’s rather rich coming from a region where France already allows disconnections as punishments (HADOPI), and where the UK has legislation in place that will allow it to do the same (Digital Economy Act). But it turns out that the ironies are even deeper.
The reason that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg — once seen as a likely successor to Germany’s current Chancellor, Angela Merkel — is no longer the Federal Minister of Defence, and of Economics and Technology, is that he resigned when it emerged that he had plagiarized significant parts of his doctorate.
After initial denials, Guttenberg was forced to admit the extent of his plagiarism thanks largely to a crowdsourced wiki called GutenPlag (original German) offering “collaborative documentation of plagiarism”, which went through his thesis searching for passages taken from elsewhere without acknowledgement. In total, it claims to have found “1218 plagiarized fragments from 135 sources, on 371 out of 393 pages (94.4%), in 10421 plagiarized lines (63.8%).” There’s even an interactive, color-coded visualization of what happened where.
A petition against this stupidity can be found here: zu Guttenberg must leave the European Commission
Tags:corruption, European Commission, European Union, Germany, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Neelie Kroes, Plagiarism
Posted in Corruption, Ethics, European Union, Germany | Comments Off on Plagiarist zu Guttenberg invited to join the European Commission
November 23, 2011
The Carbon Trading scams around the world are coming undone (though Australia in it’s wisdom and its noble efforts to single-handedly save the world has just introduced a carbon tax). The Swiss Bank, UBS has produced a report for its investors with a devastating indictment about carbon trading “waste” in Europe and its bleak future.
The Australian:
SWISS banking giant UBS says the European Union’s emissions trading scheme has cost the continent’s consumers $287 billion for “almost zero impact” on cutting carbon emissions, and has warned that the EU’s carbon pricing market is on the verge of a crash next year.
(more…)
Tags:carbon trading scams, carbon trading waste, Emissions trading, European Union, UBS, UBS Investment Research
Posted in Alarmism, Business, Climate, European Union, Fraud | Comments Off on Europe has “wasted” €210 billion on carbon trading for almost zero impact
November 21, 2011
I miss my incandescent light bulbs.
Low energy lamps have been touted as being environmentally friendly and Europe has virtually banned all incandescent light bulbs in favour of low energy lamps. But I do wonder who benefits most by this inane ban forced through by CFL manufacturers, politically correct bureaucrats and supine politicians.
But a new study in Sweden shows that the environmental benefits of compact fluorescent lamps are a myth and that mercury from some 200,000 CFL’s is being discharged directly into the surroundings every year.
Svenska Dagbladet reports (freely translated):
…. In 2009 Sweden introduced a total ban on mercury but compact fluorescent lamps (CFL’s) were excluded. Inhalation of mercury contained in lamps can, at worst, damage the brain and kidneys. Insomnia, irritability and personality changes are some examples of what can result after prolonged exposure. ....
“One must be terribly careful with mercury and certainly not inhale it under any circumstances”, says Jörn Nielsen, Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Lund University. The Division has studied companies that work with recycling of fluorescent lamps. Several of the employees surveyed were approaching levels of mercury “poisoning”.
(more…)
Tags:Compact fluorescent lamp, discharge of mercury to the environment, Incandescent light bulb, mercury in CFL's
Posted in Alarmism, Energy, Ethics, European Union, scientific misconduct, Sweden | 4 Comments »
November 7, 2011
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Il Cavaliere , Sylvio “bunga-bunga” Berlusconi is 75 years old, has a personal fortune of some $9billion, and has been Italy’s Prime Minister for longer than anyone else. He is clinging desperately to power as Italy slides towards a Greece-like crevice and it is not apparent as to why he bothers. Whereas the Greek debt is only about 4% of Eurozone debt, Italy’s debt is closer to 20%. Italy’s public debt in 2010 was 118.4% of GDP. The annual budget deficit was 4.6% of GDP. Italy’s public debt-to-GDP ratio is the second highest in the euro zone after Greece’s, while its debt in absolute terms, which stood at 1.84 trillion euros at the end of 2010, is second to Germany’s.
It might seem to be just a powerful politician in denial of the approaching flames when Berlusconi declares that “Life in Italy is good. The restaurants are full. It’s difficult to get a seat on a plane they’re so busy; holidays are all booked up”.
(more…)
Tags:Bunga bunga Berlusconi, European Union, Eurozone, Greece, International Monetary Fund, Italy, Silvio Berlusconi
Posted in Economy, Ethics, European Union, Italy, Politics | Comments Off on Berlusconi bungas while Italy burns
The k2p blog 