Open Europe : persoverzicht
 

Boris Johnson: Referendum on UK-EU relations “not a bad idea”. During a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference, the London Mayor Boris Johnson said, “The British people haven’t had a say on Europe since 1975...It seems to me to be that if a reasonable question could be framed and put to the people of this country, I think it is not a bad idea.” He added that an in/out referendum could be an option, although he predicted that voters might prefer a “looser relationship” with the EU. (Telegraph, 5 October)

Boris Johnson: Referendum on UK-EU relations “not a bad idea”. During a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference, the London Mayor Boris Johnson said, “The British people haven’t had a say on Europe since 1975...It seems to me to be that if a reasonable question could be framed and put to the people of this country, I think it is not a bad idea.” He added that an in/out referendum could be an option, although he predicted that voters might prefer a “looser relationship” with the EU. (Telegraph, 5 October)

Commission at work to circumvent UK veto on financial transactions tax. Speaking at an Open Europe fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Dr Kay Swinburne MEP warned that the European Commission had “already started work” on presenting the FTT as a value added tax (VAT) – which could be imposed without a unanimous vote and therefore strip Britain of its right to veto the proposal. (Telegraph, 3 October)

Each British household lost £299 to the EU last year. Official EU figures showed that the average British household paid £672 towards the EU budget in 2010, and got back only £373. (Telegraph, 1 October)

EU’s anti-fraud office says €1.8bn of EU funds wrongly spent in 2010. OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office, has found that €1.8bn of EU funding was wrongly spent in 2010. According to OLAF’s report, 10,332 cases of irregularities, including potential fraud, were reported in 2010, a sharp rise from the 7,769 cases, involving €1.4bn in EU funds, which were reported in 2009. (European Voice, 30 September)

Bron: politics.be