By the way, I hope all you Corbyn enthusiasts are noting how the EU will deal with a Corbyn Government that threatens the status quo in any way.
(Deep sigh)
Much of the criticism of Oettinger’s remarks appears to have been sparked by a tweet in English from the journalist who conducted the interview. He quoted Oettinger using a more blunt formulation: “The markets will teach the Italians to vote for the right thing.” The reporter later deleted and apologized for the tweet, admitting he had misquoted Oettinger.
By the way, I hope all you Corbyn enthusiasts are noting how the EU will deal with a Corbyn Government that threatens the status quo in any way.
(Deep sigh)
Much of the criticism of Oettinger’s remarks appears to have been sparked by a tweet in English from the journalist who conducted the interview. He quoted Oettinger using a more blunt formulation: “The markets will teach the Italians to vote for the right thing.” The reporter later deleted and apologized for the tweet, admitting he had misquoted Oettinger.
I found this article very interesting and after spending quite a bit of time working in Romania in the last couple of years I do agree with the sentiment of it:
That 400,000 Romanians live in the UK is a tragedy for their homeland
To me this is a legitimate criticism of the EU, the 'brain drain' factor, although the extreme opposite would be the prohibition of leaving that was in force during the Eastern Bloc days.
This factor is far more of a reason to oppose the EU if anything rather than any of the nonsense about it turning into a superstate. The impact on smaller countries with populations who want to leave has far more actual impact. No easy answers for this but hopefully something can be done to help these countries keep their brightest and best.
I found this article very interesting and after spending quite a bit of time working in Romania in the last couple of years I do agree with the sentiment of it:
That 400,000 Romanians live in the UK is a tragedy for their homeland
To me this is a legitimate criticism of the EU, the 'brain drain' factor, although the extreme opposite would be the prohibition of leaving that was in force during the Eastern Bloc days.
This factor is far more of a reason to oppose the EU if anything rather than any of the nonsense about it turning into a superstate. The impact on smaller countries with populations who want to leave has far more actual impact. No easy answers for this but hopefully something can be done to help these countries keep their brightest and best.
The key element in your statement is "smaller countries with populations who want to leave". It is a classic migrant story of push and pull factors. The push is the desire to leave an underperforming economy and the pull is the opportunity that can be gained elsewhere. It has always been the same.
The only way for a country to hope to keep its brightest and best is to create the right economic and social environment in which they will believe that they can thrive.
Without such an environment the educated and economically mobile (dare I say?) "elites" will continue to leave for locations of greater opportunity.
Precisely the same thing happened in Ireland for hundreds of years, only slowing and reversing (on occasion, though rekindled by the crash some ten years ago) with membership of the EU.
The best way of modernising and advancing the economy and society in Romania (and other European countries) is precisely the path offered by EU membership, because EU membership has encouraged inward investment and the creation of better paying jobs, which serves to lift the overall economy.
The problem is that such change does not happen overnight, or even quickly enough for most of us, but EU membership, as the experience of Ireland and, in recent years, Poland (albeit to a lesser degree) would seem to indicate that the change will happen as the position of what were/are economic backwaters improves.
I found this article very interesting and after spending quite a bit of time working in Romania in the last couple of years I do agree with the sentiment of it:
That 400,000 Romanians live in the UK is a tragedy for their homeland
To me this is a legitimate criticism of the EU, the 'brain drain' factor, although the extreme opposite would be the prohibition of leaving that was in force during the Eastern Bloc days.
This factor is far more of a reason to oppose the EU if anything rather than any of the nonsense about it turning into a superstate. The impact on smaller countries with populations who want to leave has far more actual impact. No easy answers for this but hopefully something can be done to help these countries keep their brightest and best.
We've just hired a Romanian lad. Very intelligent, speaks very good English. Only been over here for a few months. Constantly having to go off to western union to send money home. Lives in 3 bedroom house with 11 other people. Mental
To come and live over here and put up with all that it doesn't really speak well of the opportunity over there
It's a real double edged sword at the moment for countries like Romania. In the long term hopefully EU investment will ensure the economy is decent enough for people to stay but at the moment it does feel like an exodus. There are huge numbers of Romanians in Spain and they are pretty well integrated so are very unlikely to return when the opportunities and quality of life are so much better here. Using the opportunities of free movement to get a better life is something Romanians are very proud of after being so marginalised in the past.
Some of the investment has really helped the infrastructure in the last few years in Romania but there is always the worry about misuse of funds with the amount of corruption which is still endemic there.
I hope that the EU does go through a reform process and tackles the corruption in the newer member states (along with many of the older ones) which is holding them back. Hopefully the situation with Italy at the moment can start some reform of the EU as, despite the fantasy that Brexit voters have, it's clearly not going anywhere. It's a shame that Britain won't be involved to influence its future direction.
I read only last week that the fruit and veg farmers are worried about Brexit exactly because their Romanians and Bulgarians are going home and they cannot replace them. All the CEE economies have been tonking along in the last 2-3 years and unemployment rates are reaching record lows, especially in CZ (3.2%). And a lot who go back, bring a lot of experience, skills,and a different way of behaving. I know, if the cv of a Czech I am about to interview has some time in Western Europe or the US on it, they will very likely be a good candidate, even if they only worked as a waitress (Customer Satisfaction Manager in the US :-)). So overall I believe the process of lifting these economies is working , even if it's a bumpy ride, and still in process.
This is exactly the effect we have seen in Ireland over the last 30 years. In the 70s and 80s Ireland was equivalent to a modern Eastern European economy and now we are at least on par with most Western Nations, due almost entirely to help from the EU. In 30 years the likes of Poland, Romania etc could be strong European Economies making the Union stronger as a whole.
This is exactly the effect we have seen in Ireland over the last 30 years. In the 70s and 80s Ireland was equivalent to a modern Eastern European economy and now we are at least on par with most Western Nations, due almost entirely to help from the EU. In 30 years the likes of Poland, Romania etc could be strong European Economies making the Union stronger as a whole.
Whilst England and Wales (cause thats all that will be left) will be a pit of dying babyboomers complaining that the young have left
We have a couple over here, fierce quitters, spend about 3/4 of the year here. They are taking advantage of all the reciprocal arrangements in place thanks to the EU, and they have mildly complained about the exchange rate.
I found this article very interesting and after spending quite a bit of time working in Romania in the last couple of years I do agree with the sentiment of it:
That 400,000 Romanians live in the UK is a tragedy for their homeland
To me this is a legitimate criticism of the EU, the 'brain drain' factor, although the extreme opposite would be the prohibition of leaving that was in force during the Eastern Bloc days.
This factor is far more of a reason to oppose the EU if anything rather than any of the nonsense about it turning into a superstate. The impact on smaller countries with populations who want to leave has far more actual impact. No easy answers for this but hopefully something can be done to help these countries keep their brightest and best.
The key element in your statement is "smaller countries with populations who want to leave". It is a classic migrant story of push and pull factors. The push is the desire to leave an underperforming economy and the pull is the opportunity that can be gained elsewhere. It has always been the same.
The only way for a country to hope to keep its brightest and best is to create the right economic and social environment in which they will believe that they can thrive.
Without such an environment the educated and economically mobile (dare I say?) "elites" will continue to leave for locations of greater opportunity.
Precisely the same thing happened in Ireland for hundreds of years, only slowing and reversing (on occasion, though rekindled by the crash some ten years ago) with membership of the EU.
The best way of modernising and advancing the economy and society in Romania (and other European countries) is precisely the path offered by EU membership, because EU membership has encouraged inward investment and the creation of better paying jobs, which serves to lift the overall economy.
The problem is that such change does not happen overnight, or even quickly enough for most of us, but EU membership, as the experience of Ireland and, in recent years, Poland (albeit to a lesser degree) would seem to indicate that the change will happen as the position of what were/are economic backwaters improves.
Listen, if I wanted to read a sensible, logical, post I would head to the takeover thread.
The world needs a reset and Corbyn will help achieve that. It has to start somewhere. And somebody really, really needs to do that somewhere in this nixed up World and show there is another path outside of the Trumps, Rees-Moggs or even worse! All the faults with the EU are difficult to argue with, but so is the fact that leaving it is going to damage us!
The world needs a reset and Corbyn will help achieve that. It has to start somewhere. And somebody really, really needs to do that somewhere in this nixed up World and show there is another path outside of the Trumps, Rees-Moggs or even worse! All the faults with the EU are difficult to argue with, but so is the fact that leaving it is going to damage us!
Corbyn and Momentum are the answer only if we want the World to reset back to the 1970s!
The world needs a reset and Corbyn will help achieve that. It has to start somewhere. And somebody really, really needs to do that somewhere in this nixed up World and show there is another path outside of the Trumps, Rees-Moggs or even worse! All the faults with the EU are difficult to argue with, but so is the fact that leaving it is going to damage us!
Corbyn and Momentum are the answer only if we want the World to reset back to the 1970s!
Sounds like something that would appeal to Brexiters massively?
The world needs a reset and Corbyn will help achieve that. It has to start somewhere. And somebody really, really needs to do that somewhere in this nixed up World and show there is another path outside of the Trumps, Rees-Moggs or even worse! All the faults with the EU are difficult to argue with, but so is the fact that leaving it is going to damage us!
Corbyn and Momentum are the answer only if we want the World to reset back to the 1970s!
Well, I went to London to see a show yesterday with my wife - didn't get home until 2 am due to the incompetence of the rail company who cancelled all of the trains and couldn't provide any decent advice or announcements at a station as large as Kings Cross. learned from the bus driver that this has been going on since they introduced a new timetable - You would have thought they would have got the basics of communication right!
It is hard to find a road in decent condition with an increasing number looking like the surface of the moon. Cyclists and motor cyclists are dying each year because of it. Cars are being damaged! And it is only getting worse.
The NHS is crumbling. I had cause to help somebody who needed it recently, took them to the hospital and despite needing urgent mental health care, they were sent away (after us waiting there for 4 hours) because they had nobody to help them. They insisted on giving me a number to ring and when I finally got through, I was told to take him to A&E!!
We have utility companies ripping us off left right and centre. The 70s were far from perfect - they were the extreme times that we needed an antidote for, but what is so different about today. The problems yes ok, but our country is going down the pan and the current politicians have no answers.
Children are poorer than their parents and our children will be poorer than us! Yes we do need an antidote as things now are pretty bad and are still getting worse. People are looking for answers and if they look in a different direction to Corbyn, it is not going to be pretty. Trump is nothing, to what we could end up with.
The world needs a reset and Corbyn will help achieve that. It has to start somewhere. And somebody really, really needs to do that somewhere in this nixed up World and show there is another path outside of the Trumps, Rees-Moggs or even worse! All the faults with the EU are difficult to argue with, but so is the fact that leaving it is going to damage us!
Corbyn and Momentum are the answer only if we want the World to reset back to the 1970s!
Well, I went to London to see a show yesterday with my wife - didn't get home until 2 am due to the incompetence of the rail company who cancelled all of the trains and couldn't provide any decent advice or announcements at a station as large as Kings Cross. learned from the bus driver that this has been going on since they introduced a new timetable - You would have thought they would have got the basics of communication right!
It is hard to find a road in decent condition with an increasing number looking like the surface of the moon. Cyclists and motor cyclists are dying each year because of it. Cars are being damaged! And it is only getting worse.
The NHS is crumbling. I had cause to help somebody who needed it recently, took them to the hospital and despite needing urgent mental health care, they were sent away (after us waiting there for 4 hours) because they had nobody to help them. They insisted on giving me a number to ring and when I finally got through, I was told to take him to A&E!!
We have utility companies ripping us off left right and centre. The 70s were far from perfect - they were the extreme times that we needed an antidote for, but what is so different about today. The problems yes ok, but our country is going down the pan and the current politicians have no answers.
Children are poorer than their parents and our children will be poorer than us! Yes we do need an antidote as things now are pretty bad and are still getting worse. People are looking for answers and if they look in a different direction to Corbyn, it is not going to be pretty. Trump is nothing, to what we could end up with.
Agree with all this. But it needs intelligent, modern, 21st century, multi national solutions; not blind dogma from the middle of the last century.
The world needs a reset and Corbyn will help achieve that. It has to start somewhere. And somebody really, really needs to do that somewhere in this nixed up World and show there is another path outside of the Trumps, Rees-Moggs or even worse! All the faults with the EU are difficult to argue with, but so is the fact that leaving it is going to damage us!
Corbyn and Momentum are the answer only if we want the World to reset back to the 1970s!
Well, I went to London to see a show yesterday with my wife - didn't get home until 2 am due to the incompetence of the rail company who cancelled all of the trains and couldn't provide any decent advice or announcements at a station as large as Kings Cross. learned from the bus driver that this has been going on since they introduced a new timetable - You would have thought they would have got the basics of communication right!
It is hard to find a road in decent condition with an increasing number looking like the surface of the moon. Cyclists and motor cyclists are dying each year because of it. Cars are being damaged! And it is only getting worse.
The NHS is crumbling. I had cause to help somebody who needed it recently, took them to the hospital and despite needing urgent mental health care, they were sent away (after us waiting there for 4 hours) because they had nobody to help them. They insisted on giving me a number to ring and when I finally got through, I was told to take him to A&E!!
We have utility companies ripping us off left right and centre. The 70s were far from perfect - they were the extreme times that we needed an antidote for, but what is so different about today. The problems yes ok, but our country is going down the pan and the current politicians have no answers.
Children are poorer than their parents and our children will be poorer than us! Yes we do need an antidote as things now are pretty bad and are still getting worse. People are looking for answers and if they look in a different direction to Corbyn, it is not going to be pretty. Trump is nothing, to what we could end up with.
All these problems would go away if we had blue passports.
Interesting to note that the Gardai and PSNI both have their "union" organisations meeting this week, and that both are making the case for extra police for the post-Brexit border (and, in the case of the Gardai, they'd quite like a few sub-machine guns as well).
While the Acting Garda Commissioner is also concerned about the possible implications for the border (particularly as the nature of the border will determine the degree of oversight required).
If I were paranoid, and, of course, I am, I would worry that the June European Council meeting will see no progress on the Withdrawal Agreement, and that that will, effectively, make an agreed Brexit impossible to achieve (because there is no reason to believe that sufficient time remains in which to come to an agreement from the position that we seem to face today).
In the absence of an agreement, things could prove more interesting than any of us would want.
Comments
What the EU thinks of democracy, from the horse's mouth.
By the way, I hope all you Corbyn enthusiasts are noting how the EU will deal with a Corbyn Government that threatens the status quo in any way.
Much of the criticism of Oettinger’s remarks appears to have been sparked by a tweet in English from the journalist who conducted the interview. He quoted Oettinger using a more blunt formulation: “The markets will teach the Italians to vote for the right thing.” The reporter later deleted and apologized for the tweet, admitting he had misquoted Oettinger.
https://www.politico.eu/article/oettinger-italy-markets-will-give-signal-not-to-vote-for-populists/
Heading over to the Italy thread where I expect some informed adults may be present.
Verified account
@GOettingerEU
17h17 hours ago
More
I did not mean to be disrespectful and I apologize for this. Read my full statement on my remarks on #Italy in the @dwnews interview:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-18-3983_en.htm … @RiegertBernd #oettinger
So he should not have apologised for a remark he did not make?
That 400,000 Romanians live in the UK is a tragedy for their homeland
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/30/romanians-uk-tragedy-homeland-corruption-poverty?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard
To me this is a legitimate criticism of the EU, the 'brain drain' factor, although the extreme opposite would be the prohibition of leaving that was in force during the Eastern Bloc days.
This factor is far more of a reason to oppose the EU if anything rather than any of the nonsense about it turning into a superstate. The impact on smaller countries with populations who want to leave has far more actual impact. No easy answers for this but hopefully something can be done to help these countries keep their brightest and best.
The only way for a country to hope to keep its brightest and best is to create the right economic and social environment in which they will believe that they can thrive.
Without such an environment the educated and economically mobile (dare I say?) "elites" will continue to leave for locations of greater opportunity.
Precisely the same thing happened in Ireland for hundreds of years, only slowing and reversing (on occasion, though rekindled by the crash some ten years ago) with membership of the EU.
The best way of modernising and advancing the economy and society in Romania (and other European countries) is precisely the path offered by EU membership, because EU membership has encouraged inward investment and the creation of better paying jobs, which serves to lift the overall economy.
The problem is that such change does not happen overnight, or even quickly enough for most of us, but EU membership, as the experience of Ireland and, in recent years, Poland (albeit to a lesser degree) would seem to indicate that the change will happen as the position of what were/are economic backwaters improves.
To come and live over here and put up with all that it doesn't really speak well of the opportunity over there
Some of the investment has really helped the infrastructure in the last few years in Romania but there is always the worry about misuse of funds with the amount of corruption which is still endemic there.
I hope that the EU does go through a reform process and tackles the corruption in the newer member states (along with many of the older ones) which is holding them back. Hopefully the situation with Italy at the moment can start some reform of the EU as, despite the fantasy that Brexit voters have, it's clearly not going anywhere. It's a shame that Britain won't be involved to influence its future direction.
...has applied...
...for a residency permit...
...in France.
It is hard to find a road in decent condition with an increasing number looking like the surface of the moon. Cyclists and motor cyclists are dying each year because of it. Cars are being damaged! And it is only getting worse.
The NHS is crumbling. I had cause to help somebody who needed it recently, took them to the hospital and despite needing urgent mental health care, they were sent away (after us waiting there for 4 hours) because they had nobody to help them. They insisted on giving me a number to ring and when I finally got through, I was told to take him to A&E!!
We have utility companies ripping us off left right and centre. The 70s were far from perfect - they were the extreme times that we needed an antidote for, but what is so different about today. The problems yes ok, but our country is going down the pan and the current politicians have no answers.
Children are poorer than their parents and our children will be poorer than us! Yes we do need an antidote as things now are pretty bad and are still getting worse. People are looking for answers and if they look in a different direction to Corbyn, it is not going to be pretty. Trump is nothing, to what we could end up with.
Have you got a link, btw? I want to tweet that.
The separate question is whether he will be ordinarily resident in France for tax purposes. I rather think not.
What a complete and utter ****.
https://irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/border-garda%C3%AD-seek-automatic-weapons-amid-hard-brexit-fears-1.3514157.
https://theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/31/brexit-northern-irish-police-funds-recruitment-protect-border.
While the Acting Garda Commissioner is also concerned about the possible implications for the border (particularly as the nature of the border will determine the degree of oversight required).
https://irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/no-plan-in-place-for-policing-a-hard-border-warns-garda-chief-1.3513078.
If I were paranoid, and, of course, I am, I would worry that the June European Council meeting will see no progress on the Withdrawal Agreement, and that that will, effectively, make an agreed Brexit impossible to achieve (because there is no reason to believe that sufficient time remains in which to come to an agreement from the position that we seem to face today).
In the absence of an agreement, things could prove more interesting than any of us would want.
Suffering a bit from fat finger syndrome.