Britannia Radio

16 November 2009 Three Unpublished Letters to Sunday Telegraph (surprise, surprise)     EU Fines Not Enforced on France   Sunday Telegraph 10 September 2009   Sir   A correspondent last week asked about the non-enforcement of EU fines on Member States - a subject I pursued with vigour during my tenure as a member of the European Parliament's Budget Control Committee between 2004 and June this year.     Last year, my written question to the Moscow-educated Lithuanian Budget Commissioner, Dalia Grybauskaite, asked her to "clarify the status of the EUR 2.37 billion fine imposed on France for non-compliance with the EU’s fisheries policy, of which barely three per cent has been paid, according to the Court of Auditors’ latest report on fishing resources?"   Her reply included the astonishing admission "The Commission is not aware of a judgment relating to a fine of €2.37 billion imposed on France for non-compliance with the EU’s fisheries policy."   So much for the efforts of the Court of Auditors.  If proof were needed, Grybauskaite's answer demonstrated, yet again, a breathtaking arrogance by Brussels about the use and accountability taxpayers money.   Ashley Mote       Global Single Currency a Catastophe   Sunday Telegraph 30 September 2009     Sir   Janet Daley (ST 27 Sept) is right to outline the dangers inherent in increasing globalisation, and the risk it represents when something goes wrong on the international stage.   She could also have applied the same point to the importance of countries retaining their own currencies.  Money is always and simultaneously a means of exchange, a store of wealth and a means of valuing and comparing assets.  That is as true for a nation as it is for an individual.   The euro has already hamstrung many countries in Europe with inappropriate interest rates (too high and too low) and uncompetitive prices for both imports and exports.  Some are now in desperate trouble.   We are currently benefiting from a lower pound, which is both a fair reflection of our economy and public finances, and a means of digging ourselves out of the hole.    Had we been in the euro neither would be true.   Ashley Mote         New Cameron Promises Equally Worthless   Sunday Telegraph 9 November 2009   Sir   Your analysis of David Cameron's six-point plan for future Tory relations with the EU (8 November) omits to mention several crucial facts.   1.         Lisbon is self-amending.  There will be no need for more treaties.  His referendum pledge is an empty gesture.   2.         Repatriation of powers is specifically forbidden in the treaties already signed.  The EU has always functioned as a ratchet – ‘what we acquire we keep’ - defined in French as acquis communautaire.  Remember how Heath was told to “swallow it all and swallow it now”.   3.         Any attempt to claw back some powers will be met with a ready bureaucratic answer: "Re-negotiation and cherry-picking are not possible.  But you can leave.  You ratified Lisbon.  Now, it's in or out?  Your choice."   We all know what will happen then.  He'll buckle, and we get precisely nowhere.    Which is why Janet Daley's plea last week for sceptics to hold their noses and vote Tory will fall largely on deaf ears.   Ashley Mote       To respond to, or comment on this Email, please email ashley.mote@btconnect.com Click www.ashleymote.co.uk to visit the site now.