As I write, July 1st, France takes over the six-month Presidency of the EU. And they’re off to a rough start, for this morning’s news is that the Polish President Lech Kaczynski has refused to sign off the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, on the very reasonable grounds that after the Irish NO vote, the Treaty is dead. Meantime the splendid Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic is also delaying ratification.
Other EU leaders mouth platitudes about “respecting the Irish vote”, yet they press ahead with ratification in defiance of public opinion. The EU loves to talk about “democracy and the rule of law”, yet if you want to find those values you have to look not in London, or Paris, or Berlin, but in Prague and Warsaw. At least Poland and the Czech Republic are prepared to stand up for freedom and democracy. Well done them.
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Roger Helmer MEP 
It certainly is chaos for the EU, but that is all just a reflection of the developing international financial and economic crisis that I have been warning you about for months Roger.
No doubt, you are with Mandelson on how more free trade is going to solve all our economic problems?
This is worse than incompetent under present circumstances – it is a dangerous lie.
We have enough problems without adding economic warfare to the list.
No Ryan. Protectionism is economic warfare. Free trade is the opposite.
Tell that to the millions of people who are now starving and rioting around the world because of free trade Roger.
It is our collective failure to confront and change false axioms that is the principle of tragedy in history.
It is PROTECTIONISM (and especially the EU’s protectionist CAP) that is keeping people in poverty. And it is lack of good governance. Look at Southern Rhodesia. Under colonial rule it was the bread-basket of Africa. Now its people starve.
Sorry Roger that is absolute DRIVEL.
Free trade drives down wages and prices to below breakeven levels and keeps people enslaved in sweatshop conditions.
How can you even defend this?
hey ryan – two things here. firstly, if both wages and prices are driven down, everyone is just as well off as before (and those on fixed incomes, like pensioners, are even better off) in real terms.
Secondly, free trade – that is, allowing europeans to buy goods from developing countries without the EU taking a hefty slice – clearly boosts the wages of those such as farmers in the poorest nations. And when exports rise and incomes rise, investment in small enterprises becomes a reality (unlike through the Eu’s current tax-them-out-of-the-market-then-give-corrupt-governments-a-small-slice policy) lifting hundreds of millions more people out of poverty in the way that increased global trade over the last 20 years has demonstrated, despite current hinderences.
so no defence is required – you’re making no sense, pal, and i would advise you to stop making a fool of your self so repetitvely on these message boards.