The main Finnish newspaper is concentrating its powerful firepower on analysing the Prime Minister’s Twitter account and her savoury cheese pie recipes. This is a great political benefit for Finland that the headlines of this newspaper are dealing with really important matters.
Why should we be concerned with Poland’s and Hungary’s abuse of democracy, Italy’s failed banking system, Germany’s reluctance to deal with Putin, Hungary and Poland, and the sweeping right-wing xenophobic waves in France.
Poland and Hungary Rule of Law abuses – The Finnish Prime Minister stated openly and publicly that Finland is demanding strong action against the Polish government for its anti-democratic actions. It is clear that the Polish government has limited the independence of the judiciary and media in Poland and these two matters are an affront to Europe’s shared values. In 2018 Poland received € 6.4 billion (3.5% of the Polish GDP) and contributed to € 4 billion to the EU. Poland now wants €36 billion from the EU to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. It is perfectly correct that these grants are blocked so long as these abuses continue. Finland is one of the few net contributors to the EU – why should we be paying cash to these people. It is the same with Hungary, another huge EU grant beneficiary, who also continues to abuse the Rule of Law, and support Poland in their demands for EU grants!
German Soft Behaviour – It is somewhat amazing to hear Merkel come out with the statement that we should seek a dialogue with Poland to resolve our differences rather that taking them to court! For the last 10 years the EU has been pumping money into Poland while we have been complaining loudly about the above Rule of Law abuses in Poland and Hungary. Both countries have taken advantage of the lack of decisive action from the EU and taken these abuses much further. Merkel has also been soft on Russia with Nord Stream 2. Many people in the Nordic countries are concerned about Merkel’s action and are hoping for more decisive leadership from Germany, the largest EU member state. In the meantime it is useful that a group of countries which includes Finland remain firm in their demands to stop these Rule of Law abuses.
France – Right Wing Madness – Presidential elections are coming and Macron has not turned out to be the promised new boy on the block and great reformer. He is just one more self-centred man in a suit with silk ties who likes the life of luxury. He is being faced down by Marine le Pen who is busy in defending Poland, and there are two others we must be concerned about. On one side is the new xenophobic man on the right called Monsiuer Eric Zemmour. He is a newly claimed possible presidential candidate. After 5 years of Macron, the EU is in no better shape with hardly any major reforms. It is almost impossible to believe that another 5 years with Macron, Le Pen or M. Zemmour at the helm will bring any reforms to the EU – their past actions offer us little comfort.
But stories can be retold by rehashing – we all know how newspapers and media consultants can turn frogs into princes. The French billionaire, Vincent Bolloré, has invested even more money in the French media and is behaving just like Rupert Murdoch whose family has a media empire in the UK and USA. This man could certainly influence the results of the Presidential election in April. He is well known for his strong right-wing views, shady business activities in Africa, and ongoing court cases relating to wrongdoing…
Italy’s failing banks – the financial crisis and the totally incompetent mismanagement of the largest banks have caused Italy’s largest banks to require huge amounts of taxpayers cash – they are “too big to fail”! Mario Draghi worked in a senior position at Goldman Sachs (GS) from 2002 to 2005, and knew nothing about Greece’s massive loss-making swaps positions organised by GS. He then became Head of the Bank of Italy from 2005 to 2011, and obviously knew nothing about Italy’s weak banking system, and then in 2011 he was appointed as head of the European Central Bank, only to help save Italy’s, Germany’s France’s and Spain’s banking systems… However, now as Italy’s Prime Minister, he seems to have discovered that no real reforms were put in place to get the banks in Italy on a healthy footing… But let’s not worry, Italy will be receiving over another €200 billion from the EU (read us…) for getting their banks and economy in order. And if you believe that then you too believe in fairies, just like their Prime Minister.
Conclusion – A Reformed EU or Cheese Pies – The above topics deal with the burning matters that influence how we use our influence and money in the EU. Our Prime Minister has made her position clear and we as taxpayers can only support the fact that she is attempting to stop our money from going in to the wrong pockets, even when her demands are at odds with the German leader!
All of the above matters need to be reported in detail and in an honest manner, we do not need yet another report about an analysis of her Twitter account and savoury cheese pies…
