One of the most important lessons that we have learnt the last 20 years is that the European Union must be open and transparent, if not then bad things happen and reforms do not get started fast enough:
- We saw that that Greek membership was not carefully scrutinised. Look where that got us…
- Italy has been a wild card for too many years with widespread corruption in regional politics and in banking.
- Malta, Poland and Hungary have governments that do not adhere to the Rule of Law.
- The situation with Brexit is best described as a mess for all member states.
- MEPs continue to waste time and money travelling between Bruxelles and Strasbourg for no other reason that French demands.
- The Common Agriculture Policy is a disgraceful example of economic disruption where rich farmers and big corporate farmers can receive can receive huge grants from EU taxpayers year after year.
- The European Investment Bank is the EU’s big and powerful development bank that is described as secretive and not subject to outside scrutiny according to a report in the Financial Times (15.7.2019).
- The EIB needs to change its lending policy because it is one of the wold’s largest lenders to fossil fuel projects! So much for the EU’s Green Deal if there is no change in EIB policy.
- The 2008 financial crisis has given us a zero interest rate market that is killing economic activity, destroying savings and pensions and artificially lifting some asset values, while exposing young house buyers to severe risks when interest rates move higher, which will happen in the aftermath of Corona. It certainly has not stimulated investment in the EU.
The Corona Virus will leave us all much weaker. It is killing SME’s, the very backbone of the EU’s economic activity. Large parts of this big sector now have no or reduced income but they all have running costs like rent, interest payments and wages… yet what is the EU doing – almost nothing except helping farmers, big companies and banks.
Although the EU is really important for all European citizens things are now going on behind the scenes inside the EU while our attention is being focused on the Corona Virus and that is not good.
Our governments have their hands full of national matters and do not have time to properly consider and scrutinise everything that EU officials are getting involved in.
Very little is happening with the above list and that is very disconcerting. Making reform happen when it is already overdue is important.
Procrastination is not an option… and certainly new exploits should be banned until the above list is sorted out.
The EU has started to discuss once again new members for the EU – Albania with a population of some 3 million and North Macedonia with some 2 million are new candidates. New candidates may apply but entry conditions must be met – we have already paid a huge price for Greece and an existential threat from Italy & Co.
Look at Brexit – it is a mess. The British PM, like Trump, is just not able to mange anything with careful planning, honesty and transparency. We can be sure that his “promises” are pretty weak and that he will change his mind as soon as Mr. Cummings says so… Johnson recently told reporters the subject has been “banished”… “It’s been done, it’s not a subject that’s being regularly discussed in Downing Street at the moment. There’s legislation in place that I have no intention of changing,” he said.
It is quite clear that the UK will not be able to leave the EU on 3.12.2020 without creating severe damage for themselves and us. What is the EU planning for this contingency?
The Corona Virus will leave us all much weaker. It is killing many SME’s, the very backbone of the EU’s economic activity and employment, as stated above many have reduced or no income but they still have all the running costs like rent, interest payments and wages… this is a common EU crisis, yet what is the EU doing – almost nothing except helping farmers, big companies and the banks because their lobby is big and effective.
