It’s offally risky talking politics here but I for one was pleased to see David Cameron’s bid to loosen the Eurocuffs which are dragging the members towards a state of bondage. Even more pleased that Angela Merkel wrong-footed Francoise Hollande by recognising that not every EU member wants totalitarian Eurocracy and will talk about the implications. Meanwhile don’t I hear many millions of Europeans shouting, “Yes! At last somebody is standing up and challenging the system.”?
Back at home, Labour doesn’t know what to say, except to reject the promised referendum or perhaps not. In fact Cameron’s tactics will be hard for Labour to oppose since they involve negotiating a ‘looser’ membership deal and asking the voters “Yes or No? In or Out”. They can’t oppose renegotiation because they know the strength of public feeling but equally they can’t jump on board. The Milimess will continue. But luckily even they won’t be proposing the Chinese model for the future!
Boadicea's Chariot 
The news that Spanish unemployment figures have hit a new high and that the IMF thinks Greece will need yet another handout must have made even more European citizens wonder about the wonderful single currency. Merkel must be pondering the fact that her coalition lost control of Lower Saxony in the election last weekend, though very narrowly. Her own personal approval rating is very high, but she will have to work to keep it that way for the September elections. It seems that Cameron has more friends in the EU than some would have us believe. Being part of an organisation whose own Court of Auditors has refused to sign off the accounts for the 18th year running cannot be a cause for pride and some of the northern member states seem to be saying “ca’ canny” now.
Es lebe Cameron! Miliwho?
How on earth can the Sterling/Euro exchange rate be 1.188 and not 1.88? Woss ocurrin’?
Referee!!
OZ
The German press is very complimentary about Cameron’s speech, in general. A snap poll in Bild shows that 57% of those who responded think that Germans ought to be offered the chance to decide on their continued membership of the EU too. Now I know Bild is not the most respected paper in Germany, but its readers also have opinions and votes.
Sheona: I was also shocked by the most recent regional election. I liked the former Minister President, but the results do not bode well for the SPD. Most regional elections have been tight if not inconclusive. “Grand Coalitions” have become increasingly common and the CDU/CSU remain in the government in most regions. What’s most likely is a Grand Coalition on the national level again, albeit with a weaker SPD this go than last.
Germany values economic competence. Germany also values capitalism and free-markets. The social state is deeply ingrained in German society but so is some sort of work-ethic and a respect for the reality that one cannot expect a country to function without a solid economy. Thus, Merkel will do anything to keep the UK in the EU. She knows she needs the British there as an economic ally. With France self-destructing this need has become even more pressing as France still wields enough clout to get anti-reality regulations passed when it so desires.
Yes, Christopher, I had gathered that David McAllister’s success was certain. The SPD certainly seems to be losing support, possibly because of its EU support, do you think? It is very sad to think that France is still in a position to scupper any sensible developments it thinks would not suit France. But when Fabius came out with his “red carpet” remark, i smiled to think he felt he would still be in power post 2017.
Ja, aber mein Liebling David, keine Zungen
What!? Is there nobody here to disagree with me? Shucks! 🙂
No, Janus, I agree with you too.
Masterly speech by Mr Cameron, which will hopefully sideline UKip and has successfully plunged the opposition into total chaos.
Germany’s support is just the icing on the cake. 🙂
Can’t abide Cameron. He has already shown his colours. He is a duplicitous so-and-so. ‘The heir to Blair’. Bring on the Chinese model.
Haw Sheona
I follow the boy, of course, despite him being half-Weegie and a Hun-supporting Hun, A bit of a setback for him and my mind is still spinning from the tactical voting involved with the CDU allegedly suffering from a tactical choice by some of their voters to shore up the FDP vote.
Whatever. I hope he still becomes Chancellor in due course. That will seriously get up the nose of our own little Gauleiter, the excrescence that is Alex Salmond, as it pushes him yet another place down the list of Greatest Living Jocks.
Mind, if one of the Krankies were to die, that would move Wee Eck back up into the top 1,000, to be fair.
A voice from the colonies.
I listened but had a hard time understanding what was said (my English skills are somewhat decayed)
Do I have this right
1. Cameron said that he will, after 2015, start a renegotiation of the UK position within the EU.
2. The details of the renegotiation are not known, or at least not stated
3. If the EU agrees to the unknown details of the renegotiation, there will NOT be a referendum.
3. If the EU does NOT agree to these unknown renegotiation terms, there will be an in/out referendum
4. If the EU does NOT JOIN in a renegotiation including these unknown details, he made no promise to do anything (sulk maybe?) .
Why would the EU agree to renegotiate a binding contract with the UK to include some unknown terms? The punishment for doing could be a referendum that the EU does not want and could go badly for them. If they should be stupid enough to do so, and this may be likely given their past performance, he can obviously set some meaningless terms such that the EU can agree.
So, no referendum.
Here’s a piece from The Brookings Institute, (Consultants, i.e. experts at telling people what they want to hear without promising anything) conclusion: Half baked.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2013/01/24-cameron-uk-wright
JM, your continuing cracks at “weegie land” – Glasgow smiles better! – jeopardise any chance of me ever buying you an icecream at Nardini’s.
seeing as you’re buying, Sheona, I’ll have a Chocolate Honeycomb Vesuvius please.
Hi, LW. It looks like we’re going to be talking serious politics then? I blame Janus.
To set out my stand, I voted ‘Yes’ when we joined the Common Market. Not yet certain that I would vote to leave but I will wait for the debate when the referendum comes.
And come it will if Dave and my party win the election in 2015. I still expect to have a vote, of course, as Salmond will have been safely flushed down the sewer of history by then.
Anyhow, listened to the speech live, got his e-mail to the party about it thereafter and have read the text just to be sure.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9820230/David-Camerons-EU-speech-in-full.html
It worked for me.
Your 1. True,
Your 2. True, But how could the ‘details of the renegotiation’ be known or even stated before you start the process of said renegotiation? We’re at the principled and not the detailed stage just now.
Your first 3. Wrong. If the EU agree the renegotiation, there will be a referendum and Dave will be on the ‘In’ side.
Your second 3. True, Dave has declined to say which way he would vote then on the grounds that he does not believe that he will fail. Can’t blame him for that. He’s a politician.
Your 4. Wrong. Not an option in the real world and never going to happen in realpolitik, There will be renegotiations so move back to your first or second 3.
Moving back myself to your second 3., I could, of course, be wrong, about DC being a politician. He might just possibly be a statesman. who has caught the mood of my country and that of many other people in the EU. As he said in his speech.
‘The European Treaty commits the Member States to “lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe”.
This has been consistently interpreted as applying not to the peoples but rather to the states and institutions compounded by a European Court of Justice that has consistently supported greater centralisation.
We understand and respect the right of others to maintain their commitment to this goal. But for Britain – and perhaps for others – it is not the objective.’
In sum, there will be a referendum if a Conservative government is elected in 2015.
Thank you for the link to the Brookings Institute which I have read. With the utmost respect to that organisation, I found it ill -informed, at every possible level and not even half-baked but total and irretrievable keech.
Sheona: I truly do hope that McAllister moves into national politics.
While I favour the CDU and will likely continue to do so in the future
the party is in need of young talent. Merkel for all her faults is the only
credible national leader in any party. Hopefully this is only a temporary
setback for McAllister.
Schröder was the last credible SPD leader. He had a strong personality
and was a good judge of political and economic trends. The rest of his
party are lacklustre at best. The German political establishment is in its
entirety pro-EU so I don’t think that has that much to do with it. Rather, it is
a matter of how it is approached. While the CDU tacitly accept bail-outs
they do so under terms so stringent and rigorous that they’re simply unpalatable.
After this crisis passes the aim is to scare countries into keeping their finances in
order and their economies competitive. The SPD are seen as being too free in
handing Germany’s money out and not strong enough in demanding
accountability. As for France… As much as the country often infuriates me
I’m still fond of it and still respect it for its accomplishments. It’s frustrating to see
France so mendacious and, frankly, contemptible.
Minty: could this be the birth of a great alliance between our two nations?
If so, may it be!
Sipu: Sind Sie aber Fantast.
Hi Sheona
Fine that. As you surely know, ‘Glasgow’s S’miles Better’ was well smacked by our ‘Embra – Slightly Superior’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow's_miles_better
Can’t give you a link to the Embran slogan, of course, We just don’t do that sort of crass self-promotion.
And I have, of course, partaken of the joys of a Nardini ice cream before boarding the ferry to the Isle of Cumbrae to sit astride the Crocodile Rock.
Pales into insignificance when compared to Luca’s in Musselburgh.
In sum and predictably for me, our Embran Italo-Jocks are better than your Weegie Italo-Jocks. In my opinion.
Except for Nicola Benedetti of course.
I’m grateful to my learned friend for correcting LW’s misconceptions about our leader’s plan. What’s extra nice is that the ball will be firmly in the EU’s court to woo the British vote! Statesman he is! Will they? I doubt it.
JM, you may already have seen this article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21180007
about Glasgow winning the “Smart City” money. To be fair, I think Edinburgh should have got some of it, if only to sort out its tram system disaster!
btw, I think the spelling should be “slaightly superior”, shouldn’t it?