Talking about a referendum
Senior EU Commission officials recently briefed bankers in Brussels that there is a growing belief that Britain will have to hold a referendum on EU membership by 2020. They think Cameron will have to include such a promise in the Conservative election manifesto to win an outright majority in the next election.
Opt-out call
Over 100 Conservative MPs have urged David Cameron to opt out of 130 EU crime and policing laws, including the European Arrest Warrant and DNA data sharing. Under a transitional arrange-ment, that body of law will fall under the full jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice for the first time unless we opt out by 2014. The MPs said “We want the UK Supreme Court to have the last word on UK crime and policing, not the European Court of Justice.”
No declarations
A Lithuanian rapist was let into Britain despite previous convictions in Germany. Neither he nor the German authorities had to declare the convictions, which were only uncovered after a British police officer researched the rapist’s background when he was arrested for a less serious offence.
Stay in Britain, says Strasbourg
Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada has been released on bail, after the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights over-ruled our Supreme Court and ruled that he could not be deported to Jordan.
Admit it
Hans-Olaf Henkel, the former head of the German employers’ federation, said, “to see the EU flag in protests in Athens in the form of a swastika would not have happened without the euro. Why don’t we just admit this? The euro has become a threat to European integration.”
Audit failure
The European Court of Auditors found material errors in EU spending for the 17th consecutive year. For example 11 of the 22 EU agencies surveyed could not properly account for half the expenses they filed. Even so a qualified majority of EU finance ministers approved the accounts. ■