Bruges Group – The Lisbon Treaty

THE LISBON REFORM TREATY

“The Red Lines
The Government claims to have defended the UK’s sovereignty so that the Lisbon Treaty will not be able to affect; taxation, social security, foreign and defence policy and justice and home affairs. They also assert that there is an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. These are the so-called red lines.

Annexed to the Treaty are Protocols and Declarations, designed to enforce the red lines, however they do not have sufficient legal force, and are often too vaguely worded, to defend Britain’s interests from encroachment by the EU.

Michael Connarty MP has also said on behalf of the European Scrutiny Committee,

“We believe that the red lines will not be sustainable. Looking at the legalities and use of the European Court of Justice, we believe these will be challenged bit by bit and eventually the UK will be in a position where all of the treaty will eventually apply to the UK. If they can’t get these things firmed up, we think they will leak like a sieve.”

Even if the red lines were effective as the Government claims they can only defend British interests as long as the Government is determined to protect our freedoms and independence.”

The Bruges Group – The Culture of Deceit

BRITAIN AND EUROPE – THE CULTURE OF DECEIT

“It may no longer be particularly shocking to see such clear evidence of a British Government’s dishonesty over our relations with ‘Europe’, if only because this is something which has since become so familiar. Scarcely a day now goes by when British politicians and civil servants do not make statements relating to the European Union which can be shown to be based at best on concealment of the truth or even on direct falsehood.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the fundamental reason why our involvement with ‘Europe’ has introduced into our politics a culture of deceit which is quite new in our history, not least by obscuring the scale on which it is changing the entire way in which our country is now governed.

In the light of the European Union now making the final moves towards political integration, it is particularly urgent that the nature of this culture of concealment should be analysed and more widely understood.”

The Bruges Group – Euro-Creep

EURO-CREEP

“The UK has to be obey judgments made in Brussels which override decisions made by our own democratic institutions. What is more the British taxpayer has to pay Brussels £ billions each year for the ‘privilege’ of being bound by EU law.

Recently the EU announced its intention to take more control over Britain.

These plans include:
- More EU control over taxation
- More EU control over financial services
- More EU control over justice and home affairs
- EU control over resources
- More EU control over energy
- EU control over building regulations
- More EU control over healthcare
- More EU control over the transport industry”

The Bruges Group – Constitutional briefing paper – Health

HEALTH AND THE NATION

“Dr Rotherham’s study is a timely reminder that the principle of subsidiarity must be fought for, if it is to be maintained. The success of our National Health Service should be judged not by its adherence to some theoretical model in Brussels or the Hague, but in the daily experience of those it serves.”

The Bruges Group – Are the British a Servile People?

ARE THE BRITISH A SERVILE PEOPLE?

“As we look at the way our country is governed now and compare it with the situation around the time of the Second World War, we can see many changes and none for the better.

In this paper it is explained how successive British governments have surrendered our democracy to layers of international bureaucracy which have acquired completely unaccountable power over our legal, political, economic and social decisions. The largest of these transnational bureaucracies is the United Nations and the most powerful is the European Union, whose aim it is to turn itself into a post-national state.

This process has, Kenneth Minogue argues, deprived our elected politicians of real power and taken away their opportunity to behave in a genuinely statesmanlike manner, leaving them to become involved in make-believe changes to society, expenses manipulation and general nest-feathering.

Professor Minogue analyses the transnational bureaucracies that add to the burden of regulation and increasingly control so much of our lives. This increased meddling, he argues, is creating a feedback loop where ever more regulations are required in an attempt to undo the damage caused by the initial unnecessary state interference.

At the heart of the matter, Professor Minogue argues, is the curious form of idealism that disdains pride in Britain and British culture, preferring to give allegiance to a far more vaguely defined ideology of internationalism. This rejection of national sovereignty, and the subsequent embracing of unaccountable transnational institutions, as advocated by our political establishment, has led to the British people submitting to more and more authority which comes dressed as virtue.”

“If I am right about the consequences of an idealism that has been invested in a riskless and therefore unreal perfection, then the widespread indifference among Britons to the dangers of Britain abandoning democracy in favour of submission to a benevolent oligarchy in Brussels would cease to be mysterious. The mediocrity of our politics, and of our political class, would result from the fact that a large component of the British population, especially among the educated, can only recognise two concerns. One is the grand and slightly mad project of perfecting the world, and the other is the search for personal happiness and satisfaction. The real world of politics, however, is about grander issues of national interest in the here and now and many of our contemporaries are so lost in posturing unrealities of global perfectionism on the one hand, and the demands of immediate personal satisfaction on the other, that they lack even the capacity to recognise much less to respond to the political realities that are shaping Britain’s future.”

Think Tanks – The Bruges Group

WIKI – THE BRUGES GROUP

“The Bruges Group is a Eurosceptic think tank based in the United Kingdom.

The group is often associated with the Conservative Party, though it is independent of it and remains an all-party organisation. Its Honorary President is Baroness Thatcher, and its co-chairs are Brian Hindley and Barry Legg. A number of Labour politicians have been associated with the group, including Lord Shore, Frank Field and Gisela Stuart”

“The group was set up by Oxford University student Patrick Robertson following Margaret Thatcher’s Eurosceptic speech delivered in Bruges in September 1988. It quickly became a focus for Eurosceptic opinion and opposition to the then President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors. It is considered to be the common ancestor of the many British Eurosceptic parties and groups that emerged in the 1990s.

The group was considered highly influential during the period 1988 – 1993, and was a rallying point for rebellious backbench Conservative MPs during House of Commons debates over the Maastricht Treaty. At the height of its influence, Robertson briefly attempted to break the group out of its Westminster base. An Oxford branch was set up (under Roland Smith) with important links to Oxford University’s rapidly growing Eurosceptic movement led by student and future Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan. The group then went through a difficult period. Dr Alan Sked, a leading academic associated with the group, fell out with other leading members during 1991-1992, and went on to form the Anti-Federalist League, which later evolved into the UK Independence Party. Robertson left the group a short time later, later becoming an adviser to James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party.”

THE BRUGES GROUP

“Mission Statement

The Bruges Group aims to promote discussion on the European Union and to advance the education of the public on European affairs. The Bruges Group’s research also explores alternative international relationships and policies. Equipping politicians, key opinion-formers and the media with the information needed for a complete restructuring of Britain’s relationship with other European countries.”

The Bruges Group – NHS becomes open to EU control

EU ENCROACHES ON HEALTHCARE

” The NHS becomes open to EU control – the British Government attempted to argue that the unique nature of the NHS meant that it was not an area in which EU was relevant has been overturned. This leaves the EU free to begin interfering in British health care matters. In short, NHS health care now has the legal status of any other commodity and service which can be bought and sold and will therefore become a subject for EU regulation just like every other transaction.

The Bruges Group originally exposed how the future of the NHS will be directed at an EU level. Through successive treaties and recent legal cases health provision is set to be run by the same organisation that brought us the CAP and the CFP.”

2020 – European Union Essays

EU 2020 ESSAY – GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY. HOW TO EASE POPULATION AGEING IN EUROPE

“Europe stands on the cusp of a demographic revolution. Rising life expectancy and low fertility are radically transforming Europe’s demographic profile. Ageing populations pose profound political, economic and social challenges for Europe. Many commentators are deeply pessimistic about the consequences of population ageing for the social and economic fabric of Europe. But Alasdair Murray’s essay takes a more optimistic view. He argues that although pro-natal policies or increased immigration cannot be relied on to reverse Europe’s long-term population trends, demography is not destiny. There is much that governments can do, particularly to their labour markets, to counter the economic effects of ageing. At root, Europe faces more of a labour market problem than an intractable demographic crisis.”