A Welshman in Milano: Britain and the EU

venerdì, giugno 18, 2004

Britain and the EU

Is there always destined to be a power struggle between the French and the English in Europe?

The recent history is, of course, fuelled by the UK row about the increasing growth of the UKIP - a splinter group whose stated intention is to remove the UK from the EU as quickly as possible. They have attracted a considerable number of what would probably have been Tory votes to elect Kilroy-Silk as an MEP, with the support of such illustrious stars as Joan Collins, for example. Well, the largely right-wing owned press in the UK have done their best to cloud all of the issues about Europe and the EU - helped in no small measure by Jaques Chirac, of course - giving the people in the UK a very misty idea as to what it is really all about.

It has now bubbled over into a two-pronged argument - one about the appointment of the next EU President - a post currently occupied by Romano Prodi - and the other about the EU Constitution, with which the UK has raised issues concerning taxation and Social Security.

It's good to see that life goes on as usual here in Italy though. the latest move in the long running farce surrounding the case in Palermo against Marcello dell'Utri, who is a senator in Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and also former head of his advertising company, Publitalia. The case was supposedly coming to a conclusion when a perhaps inevitable 'but' entered into the story though. It transpires that he has being chosen as the country's new delegate at the Council of Europe. By going to Strasbourg to join the 45-strong Council, dell'Utri will automatically gain immunity from legal processes. Dell'Utri will thus escape a verdict in the case which could be only a few weeks away. Once his position in the Council is confirmed, all legal cases against him will be frozen. Why am I not surprised?

Turning once more, briefly, to the US and the saga of the now infamous Congessional Committee Report - Don Cheney had an interesting comment to make to the press; "Asked if he knows information that the 9/11 commission does not know, Cheney replied, "Probably."

Say no more.......