EU Parliament lives down to its sullied cesspit reputation

The expense fiddling, pension and perks maximising mess that is the European Parliament is again living down to all that has made it the object of utter contempt that it has become down the years, with the procedure for appointing its latest President, Martin Schultz, read here. A quote:

German Socialist member Martin Schulz has been roundly condemned after it emerged he had already started forming his cabinet ahead of Tuesday's vote to elect parliament's next president.

MEPs will vote in a secret ballot to elect a successor to Jerzy Buzek, the outgoing president, during the parliamentary plenary in Strasbourg.

All important votes are a sham in the EU Parliament, everything of substance is always done in backrooms and in secret, one of many reasons why the European Union is now on its knees, AND will pass unmourned by the majority of thinking people in Europe!

Details of years of abuse are on our sister blog, The Strasbourg Cesspit, linked here.

3 High-Profile MEPs question basic concept of the Fiscal Compact Treaty.

The MEPs, Guy Verhofstadt, Elmar Brok and Italian socialist MEP Roberto Gualtieri have queried the referral of member states to the ECJ, 'in a document seen by The Irish Times, they question the proposal to give member states the right to take action in the European Court of Justice against countries that do not introduce a “golden rule” binding them to run balanced or surplus budgets and to limit their national debt.
“At best it is questionable whether it will work; at worst it will pitch member states against each other, which will be the start of the end of the union,” said Liberal group leader Guy Verhofstadt, a former prime minister of Belgium.'

The entire Irish Times article, may be read from this link.  Clear signs that the real intent of the EU Parliament will be to kill the whole treaty stone dead (deficit financing being the lifeblood for this den of drooling and corrupt vampires) comes in the final paragraph of the newspapers article as follows:

The MEPs say the treaty should automatically lapse after seven years and that participating governments should move within five years of its enactment to integrate its provisions into the existing EU treaties.

EU Parliamentary hatred for Britain unleashed.

H/T The Boiling Frog, linked here.

Euronews debate on next EU Parliament

A Euronews debate on the next EU mockery of a Parliament is linked here and is most revealing for this closing exchange:

Nigel Farage, IND/DEM: “What you’re saying Mr Shultz, the implications of what you are saying for the whole concept of democracy is truly terrifying. You’re saying we mustn’t ask the German people what they think, we must lead them, this is terrifying. I’ll never forget the day after the Irish voted ‘no’ you said in parliament that, ‘We must not bow to populism’, and I hope you will now apologise for that comment. It is absolutely… You are anti-democratic. You believe a ruling class knows what’s best for ordinary people. It’s monstrous.”

Martin Schulz, PSE: “It’s an honour to be called anti-democratic by you. Thank you!”

More power for a Parliament of Cheats

Such is the thrust of an article by the Irish Business Post yesterday, linked here. Interestingly the only fleeced mugs in the EU who have the power to try to make the answer to such a question a resounding NO are the lucky Irish!

From Roger Helmer's Newsletter

Breath-taking effrontery

You will recall the Referendum Demonstration in the Strasbourg parliament in December. There have been developments.

In an extraordinary act reminiscent of the air-brushed Politburo photos of Soviet times, the parliamentary authorities have doctored the official video coverage of the event. It was delayed some time. When issued, we found that the cameras had (as far as they could) avoided our banners and placards, while the original sound-track including the Referendum chanting had been replaced with a virginal recording of the EU Anthem. Our demo had been air-brushed out of sight. Fortunately it is available on an amateur video on http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vCBIst10H-k

Later, Hans-Gert Poettering (HGP), President of the parliament, had the breath­taking effrontery to say that we had been "denying free speech" by interrupting a speech by the President of the Council (the Portuguese Prime Minister). Bear in mind that the European institutions have effectively denied free speech to the whole electorates of France and Holland. They have ridden rough-shod over referendum results. They claim to be "a Union of values based on democracy", yet they are trampling on the democratic rights of citizens, and imposing a new political settlement in the teeth of public opposition in a number of states, not least our own. Yet they accuse us of denying free speech!

All I did was to speak up for the right of 4.2 million East Midlands citizens, and 60 million UK citizens, to have the referendum they were promised by this Labour government -- and by 98% of sitting MPs in the House of Commons. According to opinion polls, some 75% of my constituents want a referendum -- I was speaking up for them. And I acted in the way I did simply because the institutions are hell-bent on ignoring the will of the people. Their contempt for democracy and public opinion is extraordinary.

In fact HGP has initiated disciplinary procedures against fourteen of the 50+ MEPs involved in the demonstration -- including myself. Having interviewed me and read the charge sheet, he can apply, under parliament rules, a reprimand, or a fine, or suspension for up to ten days. It would be worth paying a fine just for the press release. I can see the headline now: "£1000: the price of free speech in Strasbourg".

Obtain the entire newsletter by e-mailing roger.helmer(at)europarl.europa.eu