@Nigel_Farage – “We are the Opposition”

Also, a couple of letters in today’s Telegraph, one from Nigel himself, highlight the rank hypocrisy of the Tory Party (who’s leader, the EU Viceroy in Downing Street, is proud to belong to its euro skeptic wing) on British foreign policy, human rights and the European Arrest Warrant….

Alien rule of law

SIR – William Hague (Comment, August 31) says that strong institutions and the rule of law “take a long time to build and must be constantly nurtured”.

Should he not, therefore, express concern that more than 1,000 British citizens have been sent abroad under the European Arrest Warrant?

He must also be aware of the extent to which British sovereignty was signed away in the Lisbon Treaty, how our rule of law, the great British tradition of habeas corpus, has gone and how, as EU citizens, we are now subject to European law, the Code Napoleon.

If this is what being an EU citizen means, I for one would rather be out of it.

Michael Gardner
Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

SIR – William Hague shows his keen sense of irony by saying that human rights are key to British foreign policy, one week after cutting the budget on human rights monitoring by £560,000.

“Foreign policy is domestic policy written large,” he suggests. Yes, but to a large extent, foreign policy is now written by the European Union, and Mr Hague supports the funding of the EU’s External Action Service in which 100 EU diplomats earn more each year than he does.

While the Government cheer-leads the closure of British embassies around the globe (accompanied by the opening of EU embassies in their place), and supports an EU voice at the UN to the detriment of British interests, Mr Hague cannot speak of defending a British foreign policy, nor a British domestic policy, while such a huge proportion of laws are made in Brussels and rubber-stamped by his Government.

Nigel Farage MEP (UKIP)
Brussels

Please click on the No To The EAW! link in the sidebar and join the campaign for Britain to opt out.

A deeply authoritarian project

You know how things come in threes? Well, the continuing onslaught against liberty by the European Union is no exception to this rule. Prior to the European Arrest Warrant and the European Investigation Order, the first of these sneak attacks came in the form of….

….Council of Ministers Conclusions that reveal that Brussels now wants law enforcement agencies in its member countries to build lists of political activists as part of a ‘systematic data collection’.

What is particularly sinister about this programme, is the deliberate vagueness of its terms of reference….

Broader authoritarian agenda

This move by the EU to document and keep under surveillance political activists follows on from the establishment of Project Indect.

This European Commission funded and inititated programme is designed to develop a system of automated surveillance monitors that will identify ‘abnormal behaviour’.

In addition to CCTV footage, these sensors will comb through web sites, internet discussion forums, file servers and individual computers.

In Britain, York University and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are spearheading the development of this project with £10million of Brussels funding (our money – LdlP).

Again, there is a failure, or refusal, to actually spell out what constitutes ‘abnormal behaviour’ and this means that what in a traditional liberal democracy might be considered to be legitimate activity that should be free of state surveillance will, in the context of the EU, be considered appropriate for state intervention.

This is the default setting for methods of political and social control devised by the post-democratic EU and its subordinate “governments”, the ASBO for instance.

Perhaps even more troubling is that….

In addition to the dangerously illiberal content of this new EU drive to document and keep tabs on political activists, what is disturbing is the fact that this policy is being executed without any parliamentary or public consultation whatsoever.

Had the commendable Statewatch not somehow managed to see and expose the relevant documents, nobody in this or anyother member country would even be aware this was even taking place.

This blog hopes, but isn’t holding its breath, that David Cameron’s documented opposition to the EAW will persuade him that this is an erosion too far, and that the question, and indeed the constitutionality, of its implementation must be put to Parliament. He is, after all, “proud to be a member” of the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party.

Theresa May, who nodded through the EIO last month with hardly a murmur heard in Parliament, is doubtless rubbing her hands with glee.

A campaign worth joining

The Campaign for Britain to opt out of the European Arrest Warrant.

Nothing to add really.

Apathetes, authoritarian lefties and Euro-federalists need not apply.

Can’t you be arrested for this sort of thing?

Imagine my shock and dismay when, whilst perusing the interweb for information on the flag of the European Union, I happened upon this disgraceful act of virtual vandalism on Wikipedia (See final paragraph. Click to enlarge)….

I sincerely hope that somewhere in the bowels of the  Brussels Lubyanka, the European Arrest Warrants are already being issued.