UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives last night in Brussels, Belgium for a ‘dinner summit’ with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
They served Boris dish after dish
Each featuring a different fish
To remind him that they
Are still in the way
Of realising his greatest wish
Getty
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And in other news less-publicised news from Brussels, out of the 209 billion euro it gets from the EU’s “recovery fund”, the Italian government is planning to spend 74.3 billion euro on “ecological transition” and 17.1 billion euro on “gender equality”. Oh, and 9 billion for healthcare.
Your taxes will be paying for this.
https://twitter.com/FrancoZaffini/status/1336239557654827019 #EUCO
Great. My taxes will pay a proportionate amount toward that. You know, the way their taxes and others contributed toward development in this country. Also their shitty economy helps exporting countries like Germany and Ireland by lowering the value of the euro.
Also, one of the proposals for debt serviceability are new European taxes on digital companies, financial transactions (again – maybe more likely now with the UK gone) and carbon taxes.
Also a lot of the measures are growth orientated which will increase sustainability of debt service. Of you actually read the thing you would see that not all 19.2 bn is for “gender equality” – that pillar is actually “gender equality, social and territorial cohesion. The actual breakdown is 4.2bn for gender equality (activation schemes for women – boosting the size of their labour force and long-term economic potential), 3.2bn for youth employment schemes, 5.9bn for marginalised and lower income groups for training and activation, 3.8bn for poorer regions (i.e. the south for training, internships, experience and activation schemes).
On the 74.3bn for green schemes it will undoubtedly create a lot of employment and investment. Focus on circular economy (results are very positive from schemes undertaken in Amsterdam and some German cities), retro fitting buildings for ebergy efficinecy, capital spending for mobility and infrastructure etc etc. You know, the type of shit Rishi Sunak announced in his budget just before the covid crisis hit. Classic stimulus.
In terms of Healthcare the main focus is digitalisation and research. Italy already has excellent capaicty and facilities. Had greater ICU capacity than the UK at the start of the covid crisis despite a smaller population.
Small correction to us both: the total budget for gender equality, youth and regions is 17.1bn not 19.2bn
as will sir jim ratcliffe, who despite being a rabid brexit advocate has upped sticks and moved his car factory to france.. nice to see a few tans willing to pay some tax like mr dyson etc.
Meanwhile, EU no-deal contingency plans for fishing involve agreeing with the UK to extend the status quo for a year.
Good luck with that.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2368
Your good wishes are appreciated. Many thanks.
Of course the recovery fund is separate from the still-to-be finalised EU budget for which Ireland will soon be one of the largest contributors.
€17 billion ? This government is strangely reluctant to put a price tag on it.I wonder why ?
You’re going to need a bigger magic money tree.
No magic money tree. 3rd largest economy in the world. Share of global GDP: US 16.4%, China 16.3%, EU 16%. 5th wealthiest on a per capita basis with obvious regional variations e.g. Germany, Benelux, Finland, Ireland v Croatia, Romania, Slovakia etc.
I think access to markets is not a problem for the frugal north, see their cost of borrowing and negative interst rates on some maturity ranges. Collective EU debt (which has never been done before) is priced very affordably and lowers cost for countries where sustainability might be an issue: Spain,Italy, Portugal, Greece and Belgium (Belgium is wealthy but up to its jocks in debt already). Magic money tree is backed by the power of taxation and underwritten by strong economies. Simplified 3 of the main issues with sovereign lending are use of debt (productive/growth orientated vs consumption/no offsetting future productive benefit), tax bases& structure vs overall debt structure and fiscal/current account performance and future interest rate yield curves i.e. how much will it cost at refinancing (because usually countries refi).
Oversight on debt spending in proposed stimulus package. EC already has budgetary oversight on national fiscal plans and punitive powers that contravene the Fiscal Compact Treaty 2012.
The tree shakes in the wind but is growing strong.
Also, Ireland’s annual contribution to the new EU budget will be pretty much in line with current contributions and the benefits of membership received in return are well worth it.
and you’re going to need a bigger strawman, doofus.
And EU Officials will police (ahem) UK ports for ‘Exports’ (LOL) from england, wales and scotland to Northern Ireland. yougove.brexit
Tail between legs time for Boris and the boys.