EU Commissioners
Just seen a report of Mandelson's comments to a fringe meeting at the Labour party conference which is positively over-seasoned with references to 'we', 'our' etc etc.
I've always been uncomfortable with unelected commissars, but theoretically:
"the Commission is intended to be a body independent of member states. Commissioners are therefore not permitted to take instructions from the government of the country that appointed them, but are supposed to represent the interests of the citizens of the EU as a whole". (source)
Can't say I'm convinced, but having read that, consider these Mandelson quotes and ask quite how independent he is of the UK, let alone Labour:
I've always been uncomfortable with unelected commissars, but theoretically:
"the Commission is intended to be a body independent of member states. Commissioners are therefore not permitted to take instructions from the government of the country that appointed them, but are supposed to represent the interests of the citizens of the EU as a whole". (source)
Can't say I'm convinced, but having read that, consider these Mandelson quotes and ask quite how independent he is of the UK, let alone Labour:
"Speaking about the renewal of Labour's policy agenda he said: "It will not come out of one person's head." Mandelson added: "We need to include all the talents.".
He added that Labour should "applaud the leader who has delivered us three successive election victories". I'm an 'EU citizen' Peter - are you representing me?
"If we don't cheer our prime minister, why should we expect anyone else to?"
This entry was posted
on Sunday, September 24, 2006 at 7:35 pm.
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It will be interesting to count how few of these pro-Blair speeches there are this week. My money is on less than five. I wonder how many pro-Brown or pro-anyone-but-Brown there will be?
Croydonian, this isn't working. You can't see who posted a comment unless you click on wanting to post a comment yourself. Otherwise, it's just all anonymous comments, so who cares if we don't know who's talking?
I agree verity,
oh and Mandy still holds some sway.He's a sly old dog
hey and I miss the iconic Croydonian picture too!!
is it jsut my firewall or are the links still missing
Cityunslicker - hello and welcome. Nice name, by the way. Well, we can count on Jowell, Blears, Prescott, Milburn and Blair himself....
Verity, Rigger - yes, it is giving me the right hump. The links are showing up for me.
Theoretically, Commissioners may act only in the interest of the EU and may not take instructions from any national government.
Mandy appears to be breaching the impartiality requirement. His continuing sychophancy towards the Labour Party's high command is unseemly, to put it mildly. It also undermines the notion of him ever being able to act impartially in relation to UK-EU dealings.
In the interests of balance, Patten used to really get under my fingernails when he would grandstand on the Today programme etc about the Euroscepticism of the Tory party. I would do a similar Morton's fork on him: either he was a civil servant in which case he should keep his oar out, or if he was a Tory placeman he should show a little more loyalty and also put a sock in it.
Still, as I'm forever saying, the EU is a government not of laws but of men.
The one thing I missed when moving over to WordPress was the pics that came with the comments, but now we don't see the names. Can this be rectified? I know you must be tearing your hair out, you probably didn't realise it was going to happen. But it is growing on me, it looks very sharp.
Ellee,
Yup... And my technical consultant (Dizzy) is away on a course, so unavailable during the day....
so,it's dizzy's fault
Rigger - I thint it would be a bit churlish to think that.
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