Pay special attention to the attachment herewith. Vote with great care at the next election, there are two parties committed to achieving the recovery of British Sovereignty. (obviously they do not include the LIB/ LAB /CON)
Bob is quite right. I also read Europaisch Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft 1942. a few years ago now, that was written when Germany thought they would win the war. There are names familiar to me. Now the EU is winning the peace and guess who will be at the helm--Germany the biggest Country with the most people, backed by France. There is only the one chance left from what I can see.
For here we are in a different kind of "Europe", trying to get out. BUT WHILE WE (and at every General Election since 1972) FILL PARLIAMENT WITH THE KIND OF PEOPLE THAT ARE AND HAVE BEEN IN IT ALL THESE YEARS, CONTINUING WITH THE DEEPER AND MORE MEANINGFUL INTEGRATION INTO THE EU AND OUR QUEEN, (WHATEVER SHE WANTED TO DO) CANNOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE IT IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANTED. It was what THEY voted for, for a political Party that wants to remain in the EU, that has ratified every EU Treaty that they have come across WITHOUT GIVING THE PEOPLE A REFERENDUM, A SAY ON THEIR FUTURE AND THE FUTURE OF GENERATIONS TO COME. Remember, it is US lot that have voted AND PAID THROUGH OUR TAXES to put these people in Parliament.
The row re MP's expenses was NOTHING compared to the treachery, and/or treason they have done to us and our Country. Now who are you going to blame? WHO DID YOU VOTE FOR? Maybe you opted out-didn't vote at all. I in the past stupidly voted for the Conservatives, can you believe THAT? The people have great power when they do things together you know. MP's fear the people getting together, for they recognize the power of the people. Why do you think there are three Political Parties for you to choose from that WANT TO REMAIN IN THE EU? They give you a choice? You can really CHOOSE which of the three major Political Party's to vote for. Are you sure about that? They divide the people. They divide the people's votes. They divide the Country. So WHY are you voting for them?
Winston Churchill drew all the people together. The people all worked together. I know for I was THERE. It was in the interests of the Government to do so to save our country. NOW THE PEOPLE AND THE COUNTRY ARE TO BE DIVIDED, NO MATTER WHICH OF THE THREE MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES YOU VOTE FOR, or where you place your cross, if you place your vote against any one of the three major political Parties, you will remain in the EU. Not voting though, is not an option this next time, it really isn't. Make your vote count.. Give Your vote to the only Party or Parties that wants OUT of the EU. Only vote for one of the three major Parties if you want to remain in the EU. This may well be your last chance through a referendum cum election. That is of course, if we do have another General Election after reading that below. (See Attachment) xxxxxxap. 13.10.2009.
Come now, isn't this all a bit high handed for a simple trading agreement with our European neighbours?
But as some of us knew in 1972 and a great many people now realise what is outlined below was always the original intention going back the Europaisch Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft 1942. Anyone who has any understanding of European politics and the history of European totalitarian politics will recognise everything here.
For us in the UK none of this is inevitable, we can still fight it but we will need time for the mass to catch up. We can buy that time in the forthcoming election by only voting for the UKIP or the BNP. Any vote cast for the LibLabCon or not voting at all will condemn our children and grandchildren to suffering right here in these fair islands, the most horrific war Europe will have ever encountered. They will unavoidably be involved anyway, but if this country is a part of the monster they will be virtually defenceless.
The ability to reduce the future suffering of this nation, now as never before, lies in the hands of the British voter. BL.
"If we demonstrate or protest we can be seized and relocated to another region."
Here's an interesting - and accurate - account of what life will be like after 1st Dec/09. (3 weeks away?)
It comes from the "Eutruth.org.uk" website, otherwise known as "Power2010.org" - or even "Griffin Watch" .
(? It may be Welsh)).
Life ceases to be amusing anymore, for many of us - read it and see what you think.
It's happening - right now!
At just what point do we say "stuff this for a game of soldiers!" - anybody know?
As I have said on countless occasions, it's all "done and dusted"! Game over!
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Lifetime membership, updated.
"What will life be like in the EU after the 6th Treaty is signed?
Our Westminster Parliament immediately becomes pointless as its remaining powers are transferred to Europe.
It is the formal end of Britain and England as nations.
Britain's 153 embassies around the world will be closed as the ink from the Queen's signature dries. (As Tony Blair refused to admit this has been agreed to, Jose Zapatero, the Prime Minister of Spain, confirmed it in a February 2005 radio broadcast.)
After the EU abolishes our 48 counties your address will change from 4 High St, Taunton, Somerset, Great Britain, to 4 High St, Taunton, Area K, European Union. (The glorious EU county "The South West Region" has had the postal address "Area K" assigned for over a decade.)
The Official National Anthem of the EU, which you should have known since 1971 is based on the melody "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven, formally replaces God save the Queen. The EU flag replaces the Union Jack, the red, blue and white nautical ensigns etc. (The EU Commission has already ordered (24.11.2005) our Merchant Navy to fly the EU flag in place of the red Ensign.)
The EU takes ownership and command of our Police, Army, Royal Navy, RAF, nuclear weapons, currency reserves, North Sea Oil. (See the EU Constitution below)
Serving officers in our police, army, navy and air force already know they will have to take an oath to the EU instead of to the Queen. If they don't many have been told they will be dismissed. The EU will have complete military control of the UK.
The UK Independence Party will be banned under the 1999 ruling of the European court of Justice case c274/99, where it was held that it is illegal to criticise the EU. (The B.N.P. will also be shut down. Ed.)
The Conservative, Labour and Lib-dem parties will be abolished (only pan EU parties like the EPP or PES are allowed -see clause I.46.4 of the EU Constitution). It will then be blindingly obvious to even the dumbest politician there is no reason to keep Westminster open, and that the EU has the legal right to close it.
Many people will be excluded from the jobs they know best, as the EU's demand that you must pay to be re-taught the job, and pay for a certificate before you can be employed, becomes universal.
Hundreds of thousands more small businesses will close on the enforcement of the remaining 100,000 EU regulations our government has already passed. Several million will be permanently unemployed as a result.
We will all be criminalised by the 107,000 regulations. Its impossible to know or understand 107,000 regulations, and the poor can't possibly afford to comply. We will all be subject to frequent fines and arrest as a result. Here are just 4 examples:
Under EU regulations it is now illegal for you to repair your plumbing, electrics or your car (from 1st January 2006). If you buy a boat over six feet long, built after the EU Recreational Craft Directive of 1999, and don't pay the EU £4,000 to "measure" the boat, you get 6 months imprisonment. We will live under permanent threat of arrest and fear of the knock at the door that takes us away.
Massive corporations will do well, but with huge immigration allowed from the EU, they'll be able to pay minimum wage everywhere, not just in the provinces as they do now. If you don't accept the minimum they'll employ a Pole or a Czechoslovakian.
Big corporations will also have a near monopoly (with the government) on employment and will be able to dictate unfavourable terms to staff without fear of contradiction.
Plum government jobs and corruption will ensure the wealth of politicians, bureaucrats, their businesses and associates at all levels of government, including local government and amongst our 7000+ quangos.
Society will divide into two: the remaining 60% of us will be either unemployed or treated abysmally on minimum wage.
Taxes will rise more steeply to pay for the even larger explosion in government growth and corruption
There will be no redress through local democracy because there won't be any. The nine UK regional governments, which replace our 48 counties and councillors, will be unelected (see the European Regionalisation plan). Our only vote is to the powerless EU parliament. We will be ruled by the 25 unelected Commissioners, and have no redress at any level; we will be as poor but have less freedom than Soviet Citizens.
If we demonstrate or protest we can be seized and relocated to another region. The EU Arrest Warrant and Civil Contingencies Act 2004, with 20 other oppressive Acts the Queen has signed between 1972 and 2005, give the government absolute power over us. They can shoot us if they wish with no legal comeback - the shootings of innocents Philip Prout and Jean de Menezes were entirely legal under EU law.
The tendency to pick on Muslims, as Germany used to pick on Jews, has already begun. Europe will be a very nasty place.
How long will the EU last?
Eventually, perhaps 15 years down the track, Europe will collapse under the weight of its own corruption, bureaucracy, and regulations. There will be so few productive businesses that even at 100% tax rates we will not be able to support the massive, corrupt and wasteful government. Many of us will be starving in the lead up to the collapse. After the collapse we may be able to leave the EU, if a dictator has not taken advantage of the complete absence of democratic checks and balances by seizing power. The Constitution of the EU is similar to the Soviet Union's. That dictator is free to choose between a Soviet or Nazi style government. Then it could take 70 years to break free."
www.eutruth.org.uk
Eurosceptic campaigns alleging the abolition of Westminster
Standard Note:
SN/IA/4894
Last updated:
20 November 2008
Author:
Vaughne Miller
Section
International Affairs and Defence Section
This Note looks at eurosceptic campaigns alleging that the EU will remove England from the map of Europe and abolish Westminster. It does not examine the allegations and claims in detail, but presents the basic arguments and considers the EU instruments to which they are linked.
Contents
1 Westminster will be abolished 3
2 England will disappear 4
2.1 The EU will wipe the UK off the map 4
2.2 Interreg 4
2.3 UK Interreg programmes 6
2.4 The Arc Manche/Transmanche Region 7
2.5 The Channel Arc Manche Assembly 9
3 The Data Collection ‘conspiracy’ 11
4 The ‘Common Purpose’ organisation 12
This information is provided to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties
and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual. It
should not be relied upon as being up to date; the law or policies may have changed since it
was last updated; and it should not be relied upon as legal or professional advice or as a
substitute for it. A suitably qualified professional should be consulted if specific advice or
information is required.
This information is provided subject to our general terms and conditions which are available
online or may be provided on request in hard copy. Authors are available to discuss the
content of this briefing with Members and their staff, but not with the general public.
2
1
Westminster will be abolished
David Noakes, a member of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), stated on his website EUtruth “The European Union has the Constitution of a dictatorship, and the laws of a police state. Dictatorships lead to oppression, poverty and war”.1 His campaign maintained that “clause I-46-4” of the EU Constitution aimed to split up the UK and abolish national political parties, thereby bringing about the abolition of the British Government in Westminster:
The Conservative, Labour and Lib-dem parties will be abolished (only pan EU parties like the EPP or PES are allowed -see clause I.46.4 of the EU Constitution). It will then be blindingly obvious to even the dumbest politician there is no reason to keep Westminster open, and that the EU has the legal right to close it.2
The Article referred to was in the 2004 Constitutional Treaty and is now in the Lisbon Treaty as amended Article 8A(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It actually states: ”Political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union” and it conforms with the present wording of Declaration No. 11 on Article 191 annexed to the Final Act of the Treaty of Nice.
This Article concerns EU political parties, not national parties, and poses no threat to the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, or any other party. However, there are conditions regarding the funding of EU political parties, including levels of voter representation, which are set out in a 2003 EU Regulation as amended by a 2007 Regulation.3
The Lisbon provision aims to make EU political parties more than the loose coalitions of national parties and groups that they represent at the moment, although it could be argued that national parties would have to change as well and take more seriously their relationship with corresponding EU parties.
The EUtruth website no longer exists, but Mr Noakes continues to campaign on a new site called European Truth, maintaining that the Lisbon Treaty was signed illegally and that it would, if implemented, bring about the end of the British Constitution:
As with the other five treaties their [those of the “Britain's Queen and party leaders”] signatures will be illegal under the British Constitution but as that too will be abolished in 2009, they will again get away with it. We will then be imprisioned (sic) inside the EU police state and the nations of Britain, England, our 48 counties, our monarchy common law and the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties (clause 1-46-4), will all be abolished by the EU constitution.4 1 http://www.aboutus.org/EuTruth.org.uk
2 http://eutruth.org.uk/ (now defunct)
3 Regulation 2004/2003 4 November 2003 “on the regulations governing political parties at European level and the rules regarding their funding” at http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003R2004:en:HTML amended by Regulation 1524/2007, 18 December 2007 at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:343:0005:0008:EN:PDF. The text of the consolidated Regulation is at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2003R2004:20071227:EN:PDF
4 http://www.europeantruth.co.uk/abolish%20britain.html
3
2
England will disappear
2.1
The EU will wipe the UK off the map
The Noakes campaign and reports in The Sun and the Daily Mail maintained that as a result of EU Treaty changes and EU law the map of Europe will be redrawn without England and the English Channel. The campaign alleges that the “European Territorial Cooperation Objective” (INTERREG, see below) is an EU plot to redefine Europe by combining regions in different Member States. The EU will split “England into three and [lump] those parts together with chunks of other countries to create “transnational regions”.
England's 48 counties are being abolished and replaced with 9 European Regions under the European Regionalisation Plan. We became committed when the Queen signed, without our consent, the 1972 European Communities Act. The Queen's signing of Maastricht and the Amsterdam Treaty have speeded up the process.
England's 20,000 town, district and county Councillors will also be abolished. There is no democratic process here; it is being done illegally, but central government does not expect councillors to stand up for their rights, or ours.
To give two examples, the county of Cornwall will be abolished and replaced by a European Region who's boundaries stretch from Land's End to include the former counties of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. The Regional Capital is Exeter, as that city proclaims on its road signs.
The South Eastern Region includes Hampshire to Kent; it's Regional Capital is Calais. The 9 Regional Capitals report directly to the 25 unelected EU Commissioners in Brussels, not to Westminster, which will very effectively eliminate the nation of England.5
2.2
Interreg
Interreg programmes receive EU funding to help regions in the Member States to form partnerships for joint work on common projects. Below is information on the Interreg IIIA initiative, for example, which included a map of EU regions:
Until December 2006, the Community Initiative will build on the success of the previous programmes INTERREG I (1990-1993) and INTERREG II (1994-1999). In fact, about 400 cross-border projects have already been set up through the Franco-British co-operation.
The objective of INTERREG IIIA is to encourage cooperation between the cross-border areas. The European Regional Development Funds can co-finance individual projects between partners separated by a border but linked by common interests.
The priorities are:
- strengthening cross-border co-operation in the service of the citizen,
- promoting balanced spatial development,
- promoting an attractive and welcoming region. 5 http://eutruth.org.uk/counties2.pdf (now defunct)
4
France and Great Britain, two member states of the European Union, are partners in this programme and set up regional projects for the benefit of all. To achieve this aim, the projects should have a coherent and lasting impact on the citizens. 6
A more recent development has been the creation of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) to manage Interreg programmes and projects. The Europa page on the EGTC states that “Unlike the structures which governed this kind of cooperation before 2007, the EGTC is a legal entity and as such, will enable regional and local authorities and other public bodies from different member states, to set up cooperation groupings with a legal personality”. The background to the new instrument is set out in the following extract from the Interact Handbook:
1.1. Background – The genesis of the EGTC and the state of the art
Until the end of the programming period 2000-2006, very few INTERREG programmes were directly managed by a joint integrated management body, e.g. in the form of Euroregion or other cross-border structures with legal personality (only 6% of the INTERREG IIIA programmes were managed in this way3).
Instead, management functions (primarily Managing Authority, Paying Authority, Joint Technical Secretariat) were usually fulfilled by regional or national institutions (regional councils, ministries, etc.) from one or more participating countries.
Numerous reasons can be posited for this, the main one being the absence or lack of an appropriate legal framework for the setting-up of such joint management structures.
The European Court of Auditors, the European Parliament and the European Commission therefore saw the need to create an adapted instrument and on 14 July 2004, the European Commission proposed a Regulation to create a European Grouping of Cross-border Cooperation (EGCC)4. This proposal by the European Commission was part of the Cohesion legislative package for the programming period 2007-135, consisting of a general Regulation and a 6 INTERREG IIIA at http://www.interreg3.com/EN/programme.asp
5
Regulation for the European Social Fund (ESF), the Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), respectively.
This new instrument was mainly, though not exclusively6, meant to be used for EU programme and project management: as a matter of fact, recourse to an EGTC for programme management is one way (among others) of complying with the principle of joint management and single management structures (Articles 59 and 60 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006). Another reason for creating such instrument is the application of the principle of non-discrimination:
cooperation should not be more difficult between partners from two different Member States than between partners located in the same Member State.
The focus of the draft regulation on cross-border cooperation was soon abandoned and the scope of the instrument was enlarged to include all types of territorial cooperation7. The instrument was thus renamed European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), and was eventually approved, in the form of a Regulation of the Council and the European Parliament, on 5 July 2006. Following the approval of the Regulation, which has been directly applicable in all 27 EU Member States since 1 August 2006, Member States had one year's time to make national provisions to ensure the effective application of this Regulation89. To date, this process has not yet been completed in all EU Member States (see Chapter 3).
NOTES
INTERACT Point Tool Box: Study on organisational aspects of cross-border INTERREG programmes - Legal aspects and partnerships, 2006.
4 COM (2004) 496 final.
5 Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006: however it is a normative instrument whose validity is not limited to 31.12.2013.
6 The four types of EGTC are presented in detail in Point 2.1.
7 A distinction is made between 'European Territorial Cooperation' in the meaning of the EU-funded programmes that replace the former INTERREG programmes, and 'territorial cooperation' in a more general sense (cross-border, transnational or interregional cooperation projects/actions, with or without EU-funding).
8 Art. 16(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 covers the obligation of Member States to make such provisions as are appropriate to ensure the effective application of this Regulation. These provisions should have been already made until 1 August 2007.
9 Throughout the document this process will be referred as the ‘implementation’ or ‘integration’ of the EGTC Regulation into the national legal systems. 7
The first officially registered EGTC was the Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai, created on 28 January 2008 with the first meeting of its Constitutive Assembly of 14 partners from the urban French-Belgian border area around Lille, Kortrijk (Belgian Flemish Region) and Tournai (Belgian Walloon Region).
2.3
UK Interreg programmes
An ERDF/Department for Communities and Local Government consultation began on 20 March 2008 on the Interreg IVa programme on an England-France-Flanders-Netherlands Cross border co-operation Operational Programme. The consultation questions are set out in DEP2008-0799. 7 See http://www.parliament.uk/deposits/depositedpapers/2008/DEP2008-1963.pdf and Europa website at http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperation/index_en.htm
6
A recent Parliamentary Questions from Eric Pickles concerned Interreg IVC projects involving UK regions:
John Healey: Five projects have been approved with UK lead partners in the first call for projects on Interreg IVC programme, which has now closed.
These are:
1. Power—where the South East RDA is the lead partner
2. SEE—where Design Wales is the lead partner
3. PIMMS Transfer—where the London Borough of Bromley is the lead partner
4. GRaBS—where the Town and Country Planning Association is the lead partner
5. RAPIDE—where the South West Regional Development Agency is the lead partner.8
2.4
The Arc Manche/Transmanche Region
According to Noakes the EU regional divisions across national borders mean that people living in Kent and East Sussex will no longer be part of the UK but will join the Transmanche region. This region will include parts of Northern France, the North Sea region including eastern England and parts of Scandinavia, Germany and the Low Countries. Western Britain and Ireland would be in the Atlantic region and include parts of France, Spain and Portugal. Noakes elaborates:
Counties along England’s south coast form the “Manche Region” along with northern France.
The “Atlantic Region” takes in western England, along with Ireland, Wales and parts of Portugal, Spain, France and Scotland.
Meanwhile eastern England is part of the “North Sea Region”, which covers areas of Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands.
The UK Government is fully behind the project, even though the words “England” and “Britain” are left off official maps of each area and the Manche Region renames the English Channel “The Channel Sea”.
Each region, which will be given taxpayers’ money to promote trade links, cultural ties, transport policies and tourism, is to be run by a “managing authority” of unelected officials overseen by a director.
None will be based in the UK, Manche will be ruled by the French, Atlantic by the Portuguese and North Sea by the Danes.
The regions have legal status and Manche has a budget of £261 million between 2007 and 2013, Atlantic £127million and North Sea £219million.
7
Every project funded by a region must have a publicity campaign which ensures “there is provision for flying the EU flag at least one week every year”.
Britain has now become a province and its "Mother of Parliaments," a regional assembly. And that's no small humiliation for a country that gave the world English and saved Western civilization in the Battle of Britain in 1940.9
The Arc Manche or Transmanche region is voluntary network of French regions and English local authorities which border the English Channel (La Manche). Arc Manche describes itself as follows:
Arc Manche is a flexible network of French Regions and British local authorities along the Channel. Its aims are:
- to co-operate on themes of common interest,
- to reinforce the links between both sides of the Channel.
Arc Manche involves in its aims and outputs various categories of stakeholders, bodies and local authorities of the Channel.10
Its history and founding mission are also outlined on its website11 as follows:
Arc Manche was founded on the 9th February 1996 when a declaration of intent was signed by the Regions of Brittany, Nord-Pas de Calais, Lower Normandy, Upper Normandy, Picardy and the Counties of Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, West Sussex, East Sussex and the Isle of Wight (with the counties of Essex, Cornwall and Devon as observers).
They undertook to work towards the establishment of the Arc Manche region in Europe, with the aims of:
1) obtaining recognition of the specificity of the Channel area by the EU
2) developing a joint initiative on the future of the area
3) achieving improved integration of the Channel coastal regions within Europe
4) enhancing the local and regional economies
5) proposing a framework for cooperation between our regions on common themes.12
As Arc Manche is recognised at European programme level and is considered for EU funding for partnership projects, the Arc Manche Assembly is preparing a bid for the Espace Manche Development Initiative (EMDI).13 The EMDI is the second Arc Manche project funded by Interreg and was worth €1m over 3 years 2005-2007. In October 2006 the EMDI project,
8 HC Deb 29 October 2008 c 1147W at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm081029/text/81029w0031.htm#08102969001234
9 24 April 2008 at http://www.europeantruth.co.uk/goodbye%20england.html
10 http://www.arcmanche.com/e_intro.htm. See also http://atlas-transmanche.certic.unicaen.fr/index.gb.html
11 Hampshire County Council hosts the website.
12 http://www.arcmanche.com/e_intro.htm
13 South East England Regional Assembly South East England Development Agency, Joint Europe Committee, Minutes of meeting on 4 June 2008 at http://www.southeast-ra.gov.uk/documents/events/36/minutes-040608.pdf
8
which was supported by the “North-West Europe” Interreg III B programme and managed by the Haute-Normandie Region in collaboration with its partners, published a “Strategic Vision” for the whole Channel area. This influenced the Interreg IVA Operational Programme and supported lobbying for EU Commission recognition of the Channel area as a specific sea area.14 The Assembly contributed to the Commission’s Green Paper on the European Integrated Maritime .Policy, participated in the final Espace Manche Development Initiative conference in Rouen in November 200715 and addressed the EU Committee of the Regions’ Blue Planet Forum in 2007.
The University of Brighton Applied Geology Research Unit (AGRU) has outlined two Franco-British Interreg-funded Arc Manche environmental projects in which it has participated:
1. FLOOD1 is an £3,400,000 EU INTERREG IIIA funded collaborative project between the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), the University of Brighton, and the British Geological Survey (BGS) that aims to investigate the role of groundwater in flooding on Chalk catchments by providing a more detailed understanding of processes in the unsaturated zone of the Chalk aquifer of southern England and Northern France, to develop monitoring techniques for groundwater in the saturated and unsaturated zones, and to produce more appropriate methodologies and tools for forecasting groundwater flood events over longer timescales than is currently possible. The Brighton team, lead by Professor Rory Mortimore, also includes Martin Smith, David Pope, Ian Molyneux and Neill Hadlow. FLOOD project website
2. ROCC (Risk of Cliff Collapse) an £600,000 INTEREGII programme jointly with the University of Le Havre and the French Geological Survey (BRGM) to produce a common database and geohazard map of the Chalk coastlines of England and France. Professor Mortimore leads the Brighton Team with David Pope. James Lawrence is the current Research Assistant on the project.16
Cooperation since 1997 between the Universities of Caen, Portsmouth and various other French and British Universities has given rise to a ‘Transmanche’ Atlas, the content of which is described as follows:
The Transmanche Electronic Atlas represents a working tool for understanding the vast area from Dover to Cornwall and from Calais to Brest. It analyses the contemporary dynamics in the regions. It supplies maps, statistics, indicators and analyses. Today it comprises some 300 documents.17
2.5
The Channel Arc Manche Assembly
The regions which have cooperated under the auspices of Interreg have formed their own forums for conferences and discussions. On 12 October 2005 the elected members of Arc Manche met in Brighton and created the Channel Arc Manche Assembly. Alain Le Vern (Upper-Normandy Region) became President and Brad Watson (West Sussex County 14 “Progress Report - The Channel Arc Manche Assembly and future activities of the network”, report of: Cllr Brad Watson, OBE, 22 February 2008 at http://www.southeast-ra.gov.uk/documents/events/14/agenda_item_10e-channel_arc_manche_assembly.pdf . For information on project, see http://www2.westsussex.gov.uk/europe/arc/EMDI.ppt
15 See conference programme at http://www.emdi.certic.unicaen.fr/en/documents/EMDIprog_Ang.pdf
16 http://sesis.eng.bton.ac.uk/environment/research/earth_systems/agru/projects.htm
17 http://www.arcmanche.com/pages_arc/rub_2_e.php3?Page=p_2_3.htm. Maps can be found at http://www.arcmanche.com/pages_arc/rub_2_e.php3?Page=p_2_3.htm#
9
Council) Vice-President. Brad Watson became the Assembly President in November 2007. In October 2006 he had published a letter on the Arc Manche website in an attempt to allay fears raised by newspaper articles about the Assembly and its intentions:
I have been reading with amazement (and not a little amusement) of claims that the Arc Manche organisation is somehow secret and subversive.
Far from being a plot to wipe England from the map, the Arc Manche Assembly in fact is a grassroots initiative that aims to put England on the map. It is a network of French Regions and English local authorities who border the Channel.
We decided to come together because of our shared interest in the future development, prosperity and sustainability of the Channel area. By working together with our French colleagues we have a much stronger voice that actually gets heard by Governments and the EU.
For instance at the annual conference of Arc Manche we launched a strategic vision for the Channel and brought together more than 200 people to start putting projects together to implement the strategy. The document has been influential in securing millions of pounds of investment in the Channel area for the next six years under the EU's co-operation objective funding programme.
The Arc Manche network can now facilitate partnerships and projects to take advantage of this funding. Arc Manche is about co-operation not governance. The Channel is the busiest maritime seaway in the world with 600 vessel movements a day. It is clearly in our interests to work together to ensure the safety of this waterway for commercial and leisure users and to avoid major pollution incidents. The coast, sand dunes, cliffs and the biodiversity of this region need to be protected, not only in the light of competing development pressures, but also because the beauty of our coastline is a major tourist attraction. We need to find the balance between economic development and environmental protection. The regeneration of our coastal towns is important - many have pockets of severe deprivation, among the worst in Europe.
The Arc Manche Assembly brings together organisations from both sides of the Channel to work on issues of common interest. It is only by working together that we will be able to make a concerted difference. 18
The eurosceptic MEP, Daniel Hannan, has been critical of the organisation:
[…] the Arc Manche region is far more than a talking shop. As its pamphlet boasts: "Since 2003, Arc Manche is also a political project, strengthened in October 2005 by the creation of the Arc Manche Assembly". Just what the Channel needs, eh? More politicians and a whole new parliament.
As long ago as 1972, Enoch Powell warned that the Euro-federalists would conscript the cause of regionalism, grinding the nation-state between the upper millstone of Brussels and the lower one of local bureaucracies.
What we should be doing, of course, is embracing genuine localism: decentralising power to the lowest practicable level. Instead, we are creating 18 Arc Manche News 27 October 2006 at http://www.arcmanche.com/pages_arc/rub_3_e.php3?Page=p_3_1_1.php3&commun=1&iActID=78
10
synthetic regions lacking in any public support: a neat metaphor for the entire European project.19
The Assembly holds an annual conference in the UK or France. The next one is on 3 December at Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone and will focus on spatial planning, environmental and maritime activities. The Assembly is funded by the participating local authorities. A parliamentary answer in March 2007 stated that it received no UK or EU funding:
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what public funding has been provided to the Arc Manche regional assembly from (a) central Government and (b) the EU Interreg programme. [124481]
Mr. Woolas: None. There is no such organisation. Arc Manche is a voluntary network of French regions and English local authorities along the English channel. Its aims are to co-operate on themes of common interest and to reinforce the links between both sides of the channel. This network has no implications for regional structures, or either elected or non-elected regional assemblies.20
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The Data Collection ‘conspiracy’
Directive 2007/2/EC of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) was published in the EU Official Journal on 25 April 2007,21 came into force on the 15th May 2007 and must be implemented by Member States by May 2009.22
According to the “United Kingdom Report on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 2008”:
INSPIRE covers information about mapping of the land and sea, the weather, geology, the environment, population, housing and public utility services. The purpose of the INSPIRE Directive is to ensure that private and public sector bodies and citizens across Europe can gain access to this information, can study it, and where appropriate can use it to develop new services and new information resources.23
The Government, which found this directive largely non-contentious, has answered a number of parliamentary questions on it. One such is:
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the potential of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe directive to harmonise and regulate cadastral data.
Barry Gardiner: Cadastral data are covered by the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) Directive and will be subject to the interoperability requirements that INSPIRE will lay down. 19 Telegraph.co.uk 5 July 2007 at http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2007/07/05/deceptive_localism_from_europe#comments
20 HC Deb 5 March 2007 c1766W at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070305/text/70305w0032.htm#0703064000063
21 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:108:SOM:EN:HTML
22 There is a great deal of information on the Inspire Directive website at http://inspire.jrc.it/home.html
23 Cm 7446 July 2008 at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/psi-regulations/uk-report-reuse-psi-2008.pdf
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INSPIRE will create a European Spatial Data Infrastructure by improving the interoperability of spatial information (a term often used interchangeably with geographic information) across the European Union at a local, regional, national and international level.
A series of technical implementing rules will accompany the Directive. These are currently being developed by several drafting teams under the auspices of the European Commission. They include implementing rules on the interoperability and, where practicable, harmonisation of spatial data sets.
The implementing rules will be subject to expert and public review. DEFRA and other government organisations are participating in this process. In addition, as part of the process for developing the interoperability implementing rules, the Commission (with input from member states) will undertake analyses to ensure that the rules are feasible and proportionate in terms of their likely costs and benefits.24
The European Scrutiny Committee found this a “sensible initiative”.25 The directive entered into force in May 2007. INSPIRE has not yet been implemented in the UK and DEFRA has commented:
The Defra led transposition project has been continuing the work with lawyers and stakeholders to consider how best to put INSPIRE into UK legislation. One of the key issues is that the Implementing Rules are in various stages of preparation with not all the IRs due to be finalised by the 15th May 2009. Hence the precise contents of those IRs will not be known in time for transposition. Given that any transposition legislation needs to be specific about obligations, we are currently considering our approach, including the possibility of adopting a phased approach to transposition.
Complementary to transposition, we have continued to develop the blueprint for implementation with stakeholders. The blueprint in essence provides a policy framework to guide implementation, and the latest version is available on the IGGI website. We have also begun to prepare an implementation programme within Defra.26
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The ‘Common Purpose’ organisation
“Common Purpose” is a charity founded by Julia Middleton, which, according to its own mission statement, “helps people in leadership and decision-making positions to be more effective: in their own organisations, in the community and in society as a whole”. Ms Middleton elaborated on the organisation’s aspirations in an article in the Guardian in April 2008: 24 HC Deb 16 Apr 2007 cc 90-1W
25 ESC 34th Report 2003-04 at http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmeuleg/42-xxxiv/4206.htm
26 David Lee 24 July 2008 at http://www.iggi.gov.uk/assets/downloads/files/20080724%20Defra%20INSPIRE%20Update.pdf . See also the regulatory Impact Assessment on INSPIRE, 26 May 2005, at http://www.iggi.gov.uk/assets/downloads/files/INSPIRE_partialRIA_May2005.pdf and further information at http://www.iggi.gov.uk/initiatives.php, and http://www.iggi.gov.uk/assets/downloads/files/Defra%20INSPIRE%20Update%20-%20June%202008.pdf
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Common Purpose and Oxford Said Business School run a programme, What Next?, to help those in positions of leadership prepare for these roles. They hear from speakers about the reality of a non-executive position, and they learn about pitfalls to avoid and how to influence an organisation when they no longer hold an executive position in it. It provides them with the freedom to explore which roles might best satisfy their passions, values and strengths, and helps them plan ahead to develop the right networks and experiences to pursue a new direction in the future.
For society, we must ensure that this rich pool of talent is not lost but is utilised for the knowledge and experience that it can bring, particularly to governance roles. Those willing to make the leap and use their abilities in these roles should be valued for the contribution they can make in leading organisations through an increasingly complex world. The benefits will be felt not just by the individual but by the organisation and society as a whole.27
UKIP and other eurosceptic organisations have accused “Common Purpose” of destroying the UK’s territorial and political structure. In the following blog by a member of the Libertarian Party, Common Purpose is charged with recruiting and training leaders to be loyal to the objectives of the organisation and the EU, preparing the governing structure for what it calls the “post-democratic society” after nations are replaced by regions in the EU. Much of the blog expresses similar sentiments to those of the Noakes campaign, but with Common Purpose members allegedly preparing to hold senior “command and control” positions in the new European order:
The Destruction of Counties, departments and districts, as Regions take over, the demise of Parliament and the Reign of the Emperor of Europe. […]
England is to be split into 9 regions, the Ministers like Gauliters have already been appointed, and the County system will be abolished forever, along with the County Councils and local authorities. England will no longer be a country at all.
For example. Historic counties like Devon or Cornwall will no longer be mentioned by name as the map from the South West RDA below shows. […]
These will be the new area names within the region. Each Region will be run by RDA’s, supported by personnel headed by graduates in each district from Common Purpose.
The same will happen to each and every county of England. Scotland and Wales are safe, and will remain as they are, with their own new parliaments, each being a region to remain intact, but they will lose national status, and be downgraded by our new master in Europe to regional status. England will no longer exist as a country, just 9 regions.
The UK as represented in Europe will be known as the 11 regions of the UK.
This is not unique to the UK, it is happening to every member state of Europe. If we take France for instance, since 1999 the new regions have slowly been establishing themselves in the same way, quietly, in the background so that the people don’t notice the transformation. […]
At the same time, Party Politics will also be abolished. Westminster will be closed as a debating chamber and will become the headquarters of the London Region, the South East Region, and the Governor of the UK.
There will no longer be a Conservative, LibDem or Labour Party. Never again will there be a democratically elected UK government, an opposition and democratic debate. 27 http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/16/11?gusrc=rss&feed=society . Its website at http://www.commonpurpose.org/home/about.aspx provides information on its activities, aims and objectives.
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There will only be 1 ruling party, who will rule the UK from Westminster, who will swear allegiance to Brussels. If still in office in 2009, Gordon Brown will become the first State Governor of the UK.
The people of the UK have now been disenfranchised. Common Purpose will fill the command and control gaps that are left between the State Governors office (Westminster), RDA’s and the people after their local authorities and councils have gone. […]
This is the future in Brown’s new kind of politics, ruled from Brussels, through National Governors, down to regional directorates (RDA’s, who assumed the powers of the now defunct Regional Assemblies).
Common Purpose personnel will run the services within each region, Hospitals, transport, emergency services, police, fire, ambulance, and the boards of the thousands of Quango’s which have been established to run local services such as rubbish collection, housing associations and the like. […]
All that Common Purpose training, of selected candidates, under the Chatham House rules is to develop not just networks, but clear cohesive soviets for each region, awash with money from Europe, and Banks who have donated to the network of Common Purpose run charities. In one fell swoop, a revolution right across Europe without the guns and revolutionary battles. Yet. […]28 28 The Common Purpose across Europe, IanPP, 11 October 2007 at http://thejournal.parker-joseph.co.uk/blog/_archives/2007/10/11/3283329.html
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