French let it slip...

Not written anything for a while, mainly because of the cruel and unusual punishment that is producing an Oxford Union termcard. Anyway, now that is off to the printers, will try to be a bit more regular.

And the first thing that appears on my google reader feed is this little gem from EUObserver. Encroachment on the perogatives of national governments by the Eurocracy come in all shapes and sizes, but this one is a classic. Apparently a free trade area can only work by harmonising taxes and thus...ummm.... eliminating competition between member states. It's difficult to work out whether this comes from a desire for uniformity, jealousy on the part of financial centres less successful than London (despite Brown's best efforts to the contrary), or the usual Eurocrat desire to appropriate more and more control with less and less democratic input.

Whatever the case, this would be yet another removal of a vital part of the UK's independence. If the EU had *any* business sense, it would realise that (especially at a time of global economic instability) moving taxation powers to a multi-national beaurocracy and away from national governments is particularly stupid idea. Sadly, the EU doesn't.