Corruption and incompetence: The British and EU political classes.

There is an air of exasperation this morning in the Libertarian Press offices. The political elites of Britain and Europe are quite simply taking the peoples of Europe for a long and painful ride. At every level of government corruption, greed, stupidity and self serving behaviour are prevalent. They do not care about ordinary people. They claim to care for democracy, transparency, honour; however the reality is that these are terms met with disdain in the offices of Whitehall, Westminster and Brussels. 

The 2009 expenses scandal went thoroughly unresolved. It rumbles on to this day, as MPs continue to be exposed for ever-increasingly convoluted and nefarious schemes to help themselves to public money. As the Daily Mail have shown [link] the likes of Labour millionaire Margaret Hodge prove themselves very susceptible to accusations of hypocrisy.  

David Cameron is going to the EU budget negotiations with a proposal. It is literally unbelievable and incredible.  He is prepared to allow UK contribution to rise if the total budget falls. One would have thought that the interest of the British taxpayer, and indeed the British people would be the polar opposite of this. If we want to reap the “benefits” of our membership, surely a larger EU budget and a smaller input from the UK coffers is what is desirable? Other EU countries must be allowed to waste their money, but pounds must be saved in these “belt-tightening” times. Instead he is arguing in favour of paying more for less. 

The EU is little better. Those who run Europe, messrs Barrosso and Van Rompuy, are unelected autocrats. Little notice has been taken of the news that former commissioner John Dalli was “forced to resign.” Being “forced to resign” is an oxymoron. Resigning is an independent action. If he was forced to give up his job, he was sacked. The truth of the matter is that Barroso had Dalli removed, and has shirked responsibility for that fact (watch this space the LP has an upcoming exclusive on the matter). The big picture is that an oligarchy forms a ruling elite over 27 countries, more than 500 million people, and there is little or nothing being said or done about this fact. 

Meanwhile, Frau Merkel continues to wield her frightening fiscal power over the stricken European nations, particularly Greece. Greece is effectively now a satellite state of the German Bundesrepublik. This is making the Greeks angry. Merkel is now surrounded by thousands of security officers wherever she goes. On her visit to Athens, protesters burnt effigies of her. Europe is being led towards structural depression. The last time we had such a vicious cycle of economic depression in Europe, we got the Second World War.

And all this, thanks to a political elite that are unwilling to reverse the Euroland dream. We live in worrying times. Worrying because these people, from British MPs taking money, to EU autocrats, are not being stopped. In the words of Burke: 

“It has been profoundly said, and how true it is, that the only thing necessary for evil to exist is for good people to remain silent.”

Anyway, rant over.

The Libertarian Press Editorial Team