Return to EU Politics

The European Union

Know your Enemy

We don’t hate Europe and we don’t hate Europeans, we only have a problem with the unelected, undemocratic European Union, which is taking control of our lives without our agreement and in violation of our constitution – namely the Bill of Rights / Declaration of Rights 1689.

Several of our politicians have committed acts of TREASON in signing away our national sovereignty, by signing the various EU treaties against the will of the British people.

Edward Heath may have had a referendum, but he signed away much more than people realised, it was always much more than a common trading agreement.

  

It is very important that people understand what our campaign is about. We have absolutely no problem with the countries of Europe, and absolutely no problem with the people of Europe, to suggest otherwise is disingenuous and totally untrue.

Our problem is with the undemocratic and bureaucratic monster that is currently called the EU.

We want to leave the EU; we don’t want to leave Europe that would be a rather ludicrous idea. We wish to maintain and develop peaceful and mutually beneficial relationships with our European neighbours, but on our terms, not based on some rules and regulations foisted upon us by unelected bureaucrats.

The original idea of the European Common market was in principle quite sound, but somewhere along the way it has morphed into an unmitigated disaster.

 

EU Member States

 

Country Population Joined MEPs Total Contribution Net Contribution
 €millions          (%) €millions
Austria 8,205,533 Jan 1, 1995 17 2,308.4         (2.19) 478.30
Belgium 10,584,534 Jan 1, 1958 22 4,035.3         (3.83) -1,589.80
Bulgaria 7,262,675 Jan 1, 2007 17 -360.60
Cyprus 792,604 May 1, 2004 6 144.6            (0.14) -95.00
Czech Republic 10,220,911 May 1, 2004 22 932.4            (0.89) -397.60
Denmark 5,484,723 Jan 1, 1973 13 2,130.9        (2.02) 629.00
Estonia 1,307,605 May 1, 2004 6 100.7           (0.10) -199.20
Finland 5,244,749 Jan 1, 1995 13 1,544.8        (1.47) 264.40
France 64,057,790 Jan 1, 1958 72 17,303.1    (16.44) 3,806.90
Germany 82,369,548 Jan 1, 1958 99 22,218.4    (21.11) 9,976.00
Greece 10,722,816 Jan 1, 1981 22 1,882.6        (1.79) -4,951.10
Hungary 9,930,915 May 1, 2004 22 1,003.1        (0.95) -839.10
Ireland 4,156,119 Jan 1, 1973 12 1,341.3        (1.27) -1,120.50
Italy 58,145,321 Jan 1, 1958 72 14,359.5    (13.64) 3,437.20
Latvia 2,245,423 May 1, 2004 8 115.2           (0.11) -287.40
Lithuania 3,565,205 May 1, 2004 12 222.0           (0.21) -577.80
Luxembourg 486,006 Jan 1, 1958 6 241.4           (0.23) -953.40
Malta 403,352 May 1, 2004 6 57.4             (0.05) -99.60
Netherlands 16,645,313 Jan 1, 1958 25 5,552.9       (5.28) 3,362.50
Poland 38,500,696 May 1, 2004 50 2,099.1       (1.99) -3,206.50
Portugal 10,676,910 Jan 1, 1986 22 1443.0        (1.37) -2,191.80
Romania 22,246,862 Jan 1, 2007 33 -693.10
Slovakia 5,455,407 May1 , 2004 13 393.1          (0.37) -303.10
Slovenia 2,007,711 May 1, 2004 7 300.0          (0.29) -106.00
Spain 40,491,051 Jan 1, 1986 50 8,957.3       (8.51) -3,925.70
Sweden 9,045,389 Jan 1, 1995 18 2,832.9       (2.69) 1,259.50
United Kingdom 60,943,912 Jan 1, 1973 72 13,739.9   (13.05) 5,445.70
Total ~ 503,492,041 736 105,259.50

 

Composition of European Parliament 2009

The parliamentarians are known in English as Members of the European Parliament (MEP). They are elected every five years by universal adult suffrage and sit according to political allegiance; about a third are women. Before 1979 they were appointed by their national parliaments.

Remuneration for MEP’s at the beginning of the new parliamentary session in 2009 was:

  • Salary £83,000, taxed at 20% maximum
  • Daily subsistence allowance of £265
  • Travel allowance of £3,600 per annum
  • Staff salaries & office expenses of £242,000 per annum

Under the Lisbon Treaty, seats are allocated to each state according to population and the maximum number of members is set at 751 (however, as the President cannot vote while in the chair there will only be 750 voting members at any one time).

The seats are distributed according to “degressive proportionality”, i.e., the larger the state, the more citizens are represented per MEP. Thus, Maltese and Luxembourgian voters have roughly 10x more influence than citizens of the six large countries.

Germany (82.5 million inhabitants) has 96 seats, i.e. one seat for 859,000 inhabitants. Malta (0.4 million inhabitants) has 6 seats, i.e. one seat for 67,000 inhabitants.

The current President is German Martin Schulz

European Parliament 2014.svg

Members of the seventh European Parliament:

Group of the European People’s Party EPP
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats S&D
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ALDE
European Greens–European Free Alliance GREENS-EFA
European Conservatives and Reformists ECR
European United Left–Nordic Green Left GUE-NGL
Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy  EFD
Non-Inscrits (52)

 

GROUP LEADER(S) MEP’S
EPP Manfred Weber 219
S&D Gianni Pittella 191
ALDE Guy Verhofstadt 69
GREENS-EFA Philippe Lamberts
Rebecca Harms
50
ECR Syed Kamall 72
GUE-NGL Gabriele Zimmer 52
EFD Nigel Farage
David Borrelli
47
NON-INSCRITS MEPs without group 51

 

Political groups
Commission Majority (478)

  •      EPP (219)
  •      S&D (191)
  •      ALDE (69)

Opposition and Non-Aligned (273)

 

Institutes and politics of EU

The European Union has seven institutions:

the European Parliament,

the Council of the European Union,

the European Commission,

the European Council,

the European Central Bank,

the Court of Justice of the European Union and

the European Court of Auditors.

Competencies in scrutinising and amending legislation are divided between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union while executive tasks are carried out by the European Commission and in a limited capacity by the European Council (not to be confused with the aforementioned Council of the European Union). The monetary policy of the Eurozone is governed by the European Central Bank. The interpretation and the application of EU law and the treaties are ensured by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The EU budget is scrutinised by the European Court of Auditors. There are also a number of ancillary bodies which advise the EU or operate in a specific area.

European Parliament

European Parliament – Legislative (Lower House) The European Parliament (EP) forms one half of the EU’s legislature (the other half is the Council of the European Union). The 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected by EU citizens every five years on the basis of proportional representation. Although MEPs are elected on …

Council of the European Union

Council of the European Union – Legislative (Upper House) The European Council gives direction to the EU, and convenes at least four times a year. It comprises the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and one representative per member state; either its head of state or head of government. The …

European Council

The Council of the European Union (also called the “Council” and sometimes referred to as the “Council of Ministers”) forms the other half of the EU’s legislature. It consists of a government minister from each member state and meets in different compositions depending on the policy area being addressed. Notwithstanding its different configurations, it is …

European Commission

 European Commission – Executive The European Commission acts as the EU’s executive arm and is responsible for initiating legislation and the day-to-day running of the EU. The Commission is also seen as the motor of European integration. It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 Commissioners for different areas of policy, one from each member …

European Central Bank – ECB

European Central Bank – Monetary Executive The European Central Bank (ECB) is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) listed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It is the central bank for the euro and administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU member states which constitute the Eurozone, one of the largest …

Court of Justice of the EU

Court of Justice of the European Central Union – Judiciary The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is the institution of the European Union (EU) that encompasses the whole judiciary. Seated in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, it has three sub-courts: the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal. The institution was originally established …

European Court of Auditors

European Court of Auditors – Financial Auditor The Court of Auditors (ECA) is the fifth institution of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg to audit the accounts of EU institutions. The Court is composed of one member from each EU member state and its current president (as of 2008) is Vítor Manuel …

European Civil Service

The European Civil Service is the civil service serving the institutions of the European Union, of which the largest employer is the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. It is the permanent bureaucracy that implements the decisions of the Union’s government. Civil servants are recruited directly into the institutions after being selected by competitions …

EU Competencies

Competence means the areas that the EU has gained the power to regulate, not necessarily that they are competent at doing so. There are degrees of competency as explained below: Exclusive Competence “The Union has exclusive competence to make directives and conclude international agreements when provided for in a Union legislative act.” The customs union …

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.