The European commission unanimously approved a plan of action for 2010 Egypt-European cooperation program with additional €10 million for the funds allocated to stand at €152 million.

Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga received Wednesday 22/9/2010 a note in this respect from European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fül.

Under the program, about €70 million will be allocated for restoring the Egyptian water sector, 20 million for the second stage of the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI), 20 million for the Wind Farm in Gulf of el-Zayt and 10 million for Justice and Security Modernization.

Also, about €20 million will be earmarked for a program for supporting the Egyptian-European partnership project, 3 million for a cultural heritage project and 9 million for supporting decentralization and local administration.
(SIS)

http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201009237347/Economics/eu-supports-development-projects-in-egypt-with-152-million.html

Yesterday the TPA released their latest report into the abysmal use of taxpayers funds by bodies and organisations that should not be in receipt of your hard earned cash. The report gave a detailed breakdown on the huge amounts being granted by government departments and NGO’s to Public Sector Trades Unions, both in direct grants and in paid time off for union ‘duties’.

Trade unions received £85.8 million from public sector organisations in 2009-10, made up of £18.3 million in direct payments from public sector organisations and an estimated £67.5 million in paid staff time.

You can read the full TPA report here.

The biggest of the Unions involved in this skimming of taxpayer funds, Unison, were not slow to issue a press release slamming the report itself as a waste of taxpayers money by utilising the Freedom of Information Act to gather the information together.

Of course Unison is not the only Union benefiting from this use of taxpayers funds, nor is it limited to the public sector although the TPA report only included public sector Unions. Most British Trades Unions cash in on grants and paid time brought in under rules produced by the Labour government of the past 13 years.

Most members of the public would expect Unions to finance their own staff, so that organisers, activists, negotiators and shop stewards etc are paid for out of Union membership subs, whilst the political activities of these Unions are paid for by the political levy placed upon their membership. The use of taxpayers money to subsidise the political activities of Unions is anathema to most British taxpayers.

But what both sides have failed to mention are the uses that this money and paid time off gained by the Unions is put to, beyond political lobbying and campaigning in the UK.

Further research by the Albion Alliance, all in the public domain at no cost to the taxpayer, shows us that British Trades Unions are heavily involved in the basics of the formulation of EU laws, many of which are introduced into UK law without recourse to our parliament.

This involvement in the key committees of the various EU instutions, agencies and plenary bodies is something that Unions in general keep very quiet about and Unison in particular fails to disclose at all on its website and to its membership.

The quantity and types of laws, both Directives and Regulations, coming out of Brussels that Unions have been instrumental in formulating are varied, but tend to be of the kind that force social change, curtail basic human rights in favour of communal ones, and in the main are the laws which involve the heaviest financial burden on the public.

Through their membership of advisory and policy committees in such institutions as the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the little known Assembly of European Regions (AER).

For example these committees have been responsible for input into the Europe Wide Smoking Ban, Minimum Pricing on Alcohol and the European Land Fill regulations which have directly resulted in disruption to bin collections, introduction of compulsory recycling projects and bin taxes, and many of the worst hair brained eco projects.

Unions are not only responsible for the formulation but also the implementation of these adopted policies through the creation of EU projects via UK Regional structures,  the European Federation of Local Government Chief Executives and the Local Government Association (LGA).

You have to ask a couple of questions at this stage. Like who pays for each and every participant in these organisations? The answer of course is you, the taxpayer. This is why your taxes are already so high.

A second question would be, who gave the permission for these people to act and make policy, as it sure as hell wasn’t the voters.

So when our government is looking at cuts, or reforms, what they will be doing as I have explained before, is undermining and removing the British institutions and British law, and replacing them slowly and deceptively with EU institutions and EU law, slice by slice selling our national soul to the beast of empire.

Its all important stuff because it affects you directly. 50 per cent of regulation affecting local government already originates from EU legislation and other international agreements, the Local Government Association’s European and International Unit says on its website.

If we look at the members of the European Economic and Social Committee, we see the various committees that formulate policy recommendations which are then presented to the European Commission to create regulation.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body that gives representatives of Europe’s socio-occupational interest groups, and others, a formal platform to express their points of views on EU issues. Its opinions are forwarded to the larger institutions – the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. It thus has a key role to play in the Union’s decision-making process.

So here are the UK members of the EESC. All pro-EU, and I suspect all in it for what they can get out of it, and not one of them elected. (Click on their names to see what they have been involved in)

How many of them are being paid for by British Taxpayers? Unknown but researching. Heck, the whole damn edifice is taxpayer funded, so whether its direct or indirect taxation, you pay for it.

How many decisions/recommendations will be paid for by British Taxpayers? All of them as they are introduced here in the UK.

Adams, Richard Consultant in social, environmental and ethical business and project development		Group III (Various Interests)
Blower, Christine Acting General Secretary, National Union of Teachers (NUT)		Group II (Employees)
Boyle, Sandy Former President UNI Finance and Uni-Europa Finance; Past President Scottish TUC		Group II (Employees)
Burns, Brendan Director of Burns, Burns and Burns – Former Vice Chairman and Policy Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)		Group I (Employers)
Cassidy, Bryan Former Member of the European Parliament (1984-1999)		Group I (Employers)
Coldrick, Peter Head of Brussels Office of the Trades Union Congress (TUC)		Group II (Employees)
Crook, Nicholas International Officer, public sector union UNISON		Group II (Employees)
Curtis, Brian Regional Organiser, Wales and the West of England, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)		Group II (Employees)
D’Sa, Rose Consultant in EU, Commonwealth and International Law – Consultant in Legal Education/Distance Learning		Group III (Various Interests)
Fraser, Kenneth Corporate adviser		Group I (Employers)
Jones, Tom Legal Services Commissioner – Vice-president of the Wales Council for voluntary action (WCVA) – farmer		Group III (Various Interests)
King, Brenda Chief Executive, African & Caribbean Diversity – Commissioner, Women’s National Commission (WNC) – Advisory Board, Hays Executive – Advisory Board, Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO)		Group I (Employers)
McKnight, Judy Former General Secretary, National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO)		Group II (Employees)
Morgan, Peter Partner, P.W.L. Morgan & Associates; Director of a portfolio of companies; Former Director General, Institute of Directors		Group I (Employers)
Morrice, Jane Communications Consultant – Director, Photographic and Media Production Company, former member Northern Ireland Assembly and Deputy Speaker, former Head EC Office Northern Ireland, former BBC correspondent		Group III (Various Interests)
O’Neill, Maureen Associate Mowat Research Board; Member, Scottish Social Services Council; Development Director, Faith in Older People; Consultant in Charity Governance (NHS QIS)		Group III (Various Interests)
Osborn, Frederic Adrian Chair, Stakeholder Forum for our Common Future		Group III (Various Interests)
Peel, Jonathan Business and Trade Consultant		Group I (Employers)
Sears, David Former Deputy Director-General, British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)		Group I (Employers)
Sharma, Madi Entrepreneur with businesses in import-export, education and property. Consultant in the fields of entrepreneurship, education, corporate social responsibility, gender equality, diversity and social inclusion		Group I (Employers)
Sharma, Sukhdev Chairman Southwest Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust		Group III (Various Interests)
Smyth, Michael Economist – University of Ulster , Belfast; Economic Adviser to the Northern Ireland Assembly		Group III (Various Interests)
Taylor, Monica Executive Council Member, Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU)		Group II (Employees)
Weimann, Dörthe Research Officer – Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT)		Group II (Employees)

Just who are all these self appointed people? They are not elected. You can look at all the documentation of the EESC here, so you can see just how much damage to your life the Unions have done by influencing the plethora of rules and regulations coming out of Brussels.

As I said right at the beginning, this is not confined to public sector unions, nearly all UK Unions are involved in the EU at this level, even if they deny it, nor its not confined to one EU institution, you can find a list of all the EU institutions here, either in the top tab or in the sidebar, you can dig for yourselves and find Union involvement in all these repressive laws coming out of Brussels.. you know, the ones that they claim to oppose at home.

Happy hunting…

Iain Dale: The Phone Call Theresa May Must Make.. http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2010/08/phone-call-theresa-may-must-make.html

Cllr Chris Beverley: Last week I was in Brussels in a ‘Summer School’ of training events for MEPs’ assistants. http://bit.ly/9nv6qh

• Only a State may grant citizenship RT: @TelegraphBlogs: Brussels establishes a new fund to promote European citizenship http://tgr.ph/c3lUYF #
• BRITAIN IS TOLD TO PAY MILLIONS MORE FOR EUROCRATS TO RETIRE AT 60 http://bit.ly/cKjrmC #
• That Coalition promise to exempt micro business from big company accounting procedures – BLOCKED in EU. http://bit.ly/cTkss2 #
• "Germany's Deficit more than Doubles" http://bit.ly/bB1nGL – WSJ #

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“Germany’s Deficit more than Doubles” http://bit.ly/bB1nGL – WSJ

That Coalition promise to exempt micro business from big company accounting procedures – BLOCKED in EU. http://bit.ly/cTkss2

BRITAIN IS TOLD TO PAY MILLIONS MORE FOR EUROCRATS TO RETIRE AT 60 http://bit.ly/cKjrmC

Only a State may grant citizenship RT: @TelegraphBlogs: Brussels establishes a new fund to promote European citizenship http://tgr.ph/c3lUYF

• Comitology – UK Government back door to EU law: http://wp.me/pETjd-u5 #
• Free & Fair Press? Where? http://witteringsfromwitney.blogspot.com/2010/08/european-arrest-warrant-and-denial-of.html #
• EU's Road Pricing project – Coming to the UK: http://wp.me/pETjd-tY #

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EU’s Road Pricing project – Coming to the UK: http://wp.me/pETjd-tY

Free & Fair Press? Where? http://witteringsfromwitney.blogspot.com/2010/08/european-arrest-warrant-and-denial-of.html

Comitology – UK Government back door to EU law: http://wp.me/pETjd-u5

No one from the EU Treasury was available for comment. Just keep paying up… http://bit.ly/94iIrP

Shhhh, remember if you hide it, it doesnt really exist so no-one will worry… as sanctioned by the state http://bit.ly/aKuqV1

The EU’s anti-hedge fund proposal is probably illegal http://tgr.ph/d4GDXo

Canada escalates WTO action against EU seal ban http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE67I4TV20100819

OpenEurope: Still out of control – 11 years of EU Regulation http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/stilloutofcontrol.pdf

Swedish LGA report shows 60% of local decisions taken by EU CoR, & 50% of regional decisions impacted by EU. (Swedish) http://bit.ly/d3stMJ

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zietung reports that an internal Commission paper is outlining plans for a new EU tax on all types of natural resources, to create incentives for businesses to use them more efficiently. The tax would include both renewable resources such as wood, as well as minerals and fossil fuels.

The paper argues that increased efficiency would make countries more competitive internationally, stating that an increase in efficiency of 20 percent would lead to additional economic growth of 1 percent. The paper does not state explicitly whether the tax receipts should be used to directly fund the EU budget, as was proposed last week, and sources from the Commission said that a decision on the resource tax has not yet been made.

In combination, the Commission is also considering gradually banning the import of inefficiently produced products into the EU to protect European industry from disadvantages in international competition.

FAZ‘s Brussels Correspondent Hendrik Kafsack writes that “no tax is needed to move industry to more ‘resource efficiency’. Increasing prices for natural resources already compel this – and precisely competition. It is unclear as well, what shape a tax on all resources would take and how the Commission is planning to keep this separate from other taxes, for example on greenhouse gas emissions. It would probably be ‘most efficient’ if the Commission spent its resources on more reasonable projects.”

FAZ (German)

Millions of Turks, Serbs, Moldovans, Ukrainians and Macedonians could soon be European citizens, thanks to some fancy footwork by new member states.

[more....]

The Future Of Biotechnology Patents In The European Union http://bit.ly/8XJdc7

Three men and a woman were arrested following nearly two years of intense investigation by Europol with the assistance of the French intelligence services. The fact that Europol does anything comes as a surprise to many, but even more startling are the charges brought against the four unnamed defendants: sabotage!

An anonymous source told the BJ reporters that the investigation started shortly after the collapse of part of ceiling of the hemicycle in the European Parliament’s Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg in August 2008. This investigation was abandoned a couple of months ago, until the collapse of part of the ceiling in the Jacques Delors building in Brussels – shared by the European Union’s Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee – this 10 August.

Coincidence seemed unlikely and an anonymous tip led the investigators to a small apartment in the Brussels suburbs, where the alleged saboteurs were arrested, as well as boxes of pamphlets accusing the EU of maintaining too many useless buildings for the sake of not always useful institutions.

The group seems to call itself the CCCC (Cut the Crap Collapse the Ceilings) or 4Cs, and material found on one of the computers in the apartment indicates their hard feelings against the dual location of the European Parliament and the doubtful usefulness of the CoR and ESC bodies.

We were also told that the french intelligence services were specifically keen on making the arrest, as President Sarkozy considered the sabotage operations to be directed specifically against France. As an unofficial source close to the French President told us: “First, they let the ceiling fall off in France, and then in a building carrying the name of a former French Commission President…and we all know that the only thing the ancient Gauls were scared off, was the sky falling on their head. This is a symbolic attack on France, no doubt about it”.

It is unclear if the four make up the enire organisation or if other arrests will follow.

H/T TheBrusselsJungle

C’mon France, play the game and cough up. Disgusting that you made Haiti pay $21bln for its independence. Give it back. http://bit.ly/cmdYAW

Banks Slam FSA Over Bonus Plan incorporated in new legislation from the European Union http://bit.ly/cieCot #eu

Surcharge whoever approved it RT: @HouseofTwits: RT @Jon2aylor NHS faces £65bn bill for PFI hospitalshttp://gu.com/p/2j2ee/ip

methinks Saxby been eating magic mushrooms or something very similar.. RT @Danny_Saxby ‘David Blunkett is of the Libertarian right’

Perhaps the signs should read ‘Paid for by British tax contributions to the EU’ along with a Union Jack but no EU flag. http://bit.ly/aVhNJe

Thats acquiescence, not fighting RT: @MailOnline: Fined £150m for not flying EU flag: UK firms told how to fight back http://bit.ly/cVyZfy

Oh well said that man RT: @WitteringWitney: All three are just a load of b*****ks! http://bit.ly/d3x83m

When is the EU going to ask for all US financial transactions and travel information to be downloaded to Europe for terror checking?

Haaa Haaa, oh Haaa RT: @DanHannanMEP: Quote of the day: “The euro is a victim of its own success” – Herman Van Rompuy http://bit.ly/deG2Yw

If we don’t start seeing some policy & action on the EU that IS in UK interest, the Albion Alliance may well be firing up the Quattro again.

RT: @PJCJournal: EU Commission sponsors Global Governance Programme: http://wp.me/pETjd-rt #euvote

The Albion Alliance website is in the process of being upgraded http://albionalliance.org.uk/

RT: @PJCJournal: Beware Coalitions bearing gifts..: http://wp.me/pETjd-r0 #noto55 #ge2010

RT: @PJCJournal: Albion Alliance – next steps: http://wp.me/pETjd-qC

Cracking the media – It is regrettable that nothing came of this ‘promise’ http://witteringsfromwitney.blogspot.com/

RT: @PJCJournal: Financial Crisis: EU creates its own West Lothian Question: http://wp.me/pETjd-qv

RT: @PJCJournal: Beyond a Caretaker government: http://wp.me/pETjd-qr

Even at the 11th hour, Ian de Wulverton UKIP candidate Ealing North has signed the Albion Alliance pledge for EU Referendum.

RT: @PJCJournal: Place your vote with your conscience : http://wp.me/pETjd-qc #ukelection #ge2010

Lisbon Treaty must be re-ratified – EU: http://wp.me/pETjd-q7 Turn it into an EU Referendum http://tinyurl.com/y6pgeb6

RT: @PJCJournal: Lisbon Treaty must be re-ratified – EU: http://wp.me/pETjd-q7 #ge2010 #ukelection

Here we go with the March edition of the Albion Alliance Newsletter, and I do apologise for the late distribution of this as I needed to take some time out to recharge the batteries.

A campaign such as the Albion Alliance is always going to be a bit like an iceberg – the visible part is small but there is a lot going on under the water. However, unlike an iceberg we are not just drifting, but carefully aiming our campaign where we think it will have the most impact, and impact it certainly has had. It is quite clear that those in power as well as the public are watching, listening and taking note, with the campaign being read and acted upon by many.

The main web page and candidate database is constantly being monitored by the big party organisations, with regular visits from amongst others the Labour Party, CCHQ, Cooperative Party, Parliament, European Commission, European Parliament, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Sky News and The Guardian along with literally hundreds of visits from Universities across the UK as well as the public visiting to view the status of their candidates.

One of the biggest impacts that we have seen thus far is that we have been made aware, by candidates, that CCHQ have issued an instruction to all Conservative Candidates not to correspond with us, or if they do then there is a template giving the party line that must be used, and is used consistently. That instruction also indicates that candidates will be deselected if conservative candidates sign the Albion Alliance pledge. It would seem that this party at least is running scared of open debate on the EU, and have apparently also given instructions to TV companies not to include the subject in any forthcoming debates in the run up to the election.

We felt that this level of micro management of candidates over such an important election issue is something that is probably unacceptable to voters, so in order to counter that CCHQ instruction we have added a facility for candidates (of any party) to sign the pledge in secret, where the names of secret pledge candidates will not be released until after the nomination process with returning officers are closed. This is proving to be a popular move.

With the election drawing ever closer, we now feel that it is time to widen the debate. In order to facilitate that we have decided that one of our moves is to launch our own dedicated Albion Alliance blog (http://blog.albionalliance.org.uk/), so that issues relating to the EU, our membership of it and its impact on life in the UK can be brought up and discussed, openly.

Whilst the administration committee will be making regular posts on this new blog, we are also going to open it up to guest posters. This may be from those who already blog elsewhere or from members of the public who have never published their thoughts before and would like an outlet.

The Albion Alliance hope that the provision of this blogging facility will promote debate, awareness and the general exchange of ideas and political viewpoints surrounding UK membership of the EU. Posts for submission do not necessarily have to be purely on the European Union or the need for/against a referendum, but ideally they will link to both those two subjects. You may wish to write about your experiences in getting your candidate to sign up to the Albion Alliance pledge, or how EU laws, regulations or directives impact on your life or even how you envisage the UK working in a de-regulated world.

The only thing we ask is that posts remain polite, do not contain profanities or anything which could be construed as personally defamatory, libellous or racist (sometimes difficult we know), but subject to that criteria it will be published as written.  Anything which we feel may cross the outline above we will contact the author with suggested changes, and all posts will be open to comments for which the same criteria will apply. Albion Alliance retain all editorial rights at all times.

If you would like to submit a post for publication, please send your draft to blogposts@albionalliance.org.uk

Now to things more mundane. The bulk of our activities are and always will be correspondence based and technical updates, with the major task at this moment keeping the candidate database up to date, and that’s not easy. In this we again look for your help. If you look at your constituency in the database and know there are candidates who are either missing or shouldn’t be there, or any of the details are incorrect, please let us know on media@albionalliance.org.uk and we will amend the relevant entries. Let me thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Whilst the main thrust of the Albion Alliance campaign is to get the agreement of candidates to sign the pledge BEFORE they are elected, where do we see the Albion Alliance going after the election.

We think that it is going to become starkly relevant to people after the election, when the EU really starts to grip combined with the traditionally lean fiscal quarters meeting the general post-recession politics then this campaign will become more the focus than pre-election. It will become more apparent of the need for us to have an immediate say in where we plan to go as a country, socially and politically.

This is where the Albion Alliance will really have its work cut out to keep up the pressure to give us a say in our future, and again a change in campaign strategy, but for now, please, we ask you to keep an eye on your constituencies, write to or phone your candidates, put as much pressure on them as possible to sign up to the pledge, and if you are a blogger keep up the articles, as this is after all, a basic question of democracy.

Thank you all for your support.

The Team at The Albion Alliance

Today, its time to take a good cold hard look at the EU, and how the new post Lisbon EU state has started to impose its will and its influence on us here in the UK.

My colleague James Higham has produced a well researched, well linked, 3 part factual presentation on the state of the union as it relates to the UK today, a very long and very detailed explanation that outlines the potential dangers that face the continued existence of the UK, with examples and the legal challenges that present themselves.

Britain is changing, our politicians try desperately to hide this change invoked by the EU under various guises, as their own party policy, as global pressures, as incompetence by their opponents, but reading through all of James’ work, you can clearly see that very little of it is home grown, its a majority change imported from Brussels.

It has always been the method of the European ‘project’ to hide as much detailed information as possible from the public, only presenting small amounts of legislation and rules, usually served in a manner that only explains economic benefit without detailing the loss of rights, freedoms and sovereignty, and this is an attempt to rectify some of that imbalance.

I urge you to read James’ works carefully, because it could have profound implications on the way you see politicians, parties and may even affect the way you end up voting at the next election.

I hope that you find it thought provoking, will make you ask more questions, and become less inclined to believe without questioning everything that you read in the newspapers or watch on the BBC news.

Anyway, here are the links to the 3 part article:

1.  http://nourishingobscurity.com/2010/02/23/the-eu-and-sovereignty/

2.  http://nourishingobscurity.com/2010/02/24/specific-ways-the-eu-operates/

3.  http://nourishingobscurity.com/2010/02/24/stance-of-parties-pundits-and-people-on-the-eu/

Take your time, re-read it if you need to, follow as many of the provided links as necessary to keep it all in context, but please take the time to do so. This trilogy by James does not draw any conclusions, it leaves that to you, and provides for discussion in a separate comments section.

http://nourishingobscurity.com/2010/02/25/learned-opinion-from-both-sides/

I am also aware that many of my readers are pro-EU supporters, with some still arguing that we still retain the tools to manage our own destiny. I think you will find that the facts as presented by James may give pause for thought, even make some of you question the way in which this new state operates, and to ask whether this is right or not for the public good.

I therefore invite everyone to read all 3 parts, and then join in the discussion.

PJC Journal