Bulldog Boris is right to challenge Brussels
Latest EU report shows how bad things are
© Parliament TV
REVEALED : how much of life is now controlled from Brussels, not Westminster
While the BBC, Sky News and the newspapers were rather focused on Boris yesterday – and of course on critical comments from the EU about Boris – the Brussels machine was grinding on.
Each month the EU publishes what it calls an “Infringements Package”. This lists all the actions it is taking against member states for failing to obey EU law on a repeated basis. The full list is lengthy, so here are just the highlights of the latest Infringement Package published yesterday.
Brexit Facts4EU.org Summary
The EU’s July Infringements
NOTE : These are only decisions in July, and only the key ones at that
This is NOT the full list
At this point the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team lost the will continue. We also wondered whether any reader would be interested in continuing to read further.
This is only the first third of the infringements in the list
The above summary table has had to be constructed manually by us overnight as the EU does not produce one. The above list shows approximately the first third of the infringements notified in July alone. And these are only “the key ones”.
In case Remain MPs look at the list and only see the UK mentioned once, we must stress that we have created the list in the exact same order as the infringements were shown in the EU’s 19,500 word document.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org has reported on infringements of EU law several times. These cases takes months and often years to get to this stage. They most certainly do not include all the examples of EU27 countries disobeying EU law.
What is the significance of this to Brexit?
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
There are three key messages
- Brussels really does make an enormous number of laws, despite the contrary claims by the Remain campaign in the Referendum - and since
- Just because Brussels says something, it does not mean it happens
- The UK appears only three times in the full list - once in the list shown above, once amongst a list of 20 EU member states about firearms registrations, and once on a list of 15 member states requesting it to register with the European Registers of Road Transport Undertakings. Hardly massive crimes.
The example of Irish peat bogs
If we look at the last item on our list above, here is what the EU told Ireland yesterday:-
“The Commission urges Ireland to ensure that peat bog extraction activities are properly assessed before authorisation. In a previous legal case on this matter (Commission vs Ireland of September 1999, C-392/96), the Court of Justice of the EU ruled against Ireland, finding it in breach of EU law. As confirmed by the Court, under the EU rules on environmental impact assessment (the Environmental Impact Directive, Directive 2011/92/EU), the impact of peat extraction activities on the environment must be properly assessed before authorisation. The Commission is concerned that these EU rules are still not being applied. Furthermore, a recent amendment of Irish law in January 2019 affecting larger extraction sites now gives operators more time for extraction activities that are in breach of EU law. As a result, the Commission decided to send a letter of formal notice to the Irish authorities. Ireland now has two months to address the Commission's concerns. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion.”
As can be seen above, this case against the Irish started 20 years ago and is still unresolved.
Observations
The simple fact is that the EU IS an unlevel playing field. Member states have wildly different economies and wildly different social and legal structures. Some, such as the UK, attempt to apply EU law in all cases even when it is not in their interests to do so.
Other member states are less diligent.
Remain MPs always seem to think that the UK is powerless to make its own laws for its own people, and apparently believe that the UK Parliament is unable to do this without the help of thousands of unelected officials in Brussels.
It would seem self-evident that the laws which the EU machine wish to make will suit many EU member states far more than they would suit the needs of the British people.
What does Brussels know about Irish peat bogs?
The last item on our list above relates to the Irish. This case has been rumbling on for 20 years.
Whilst the quality of Irish peat bog extraction may not be top of the list of concerns of the British people, it is nonetheless an example of how the “rules-based order” of the EU is not all Remain MPs seem to think it is.
Bulldog Boris
Yesterday in Parliament we saw Boris Johnson reminding MPs that ours is a great country. Wouldn’t it be good if we saw MPs believing once again in the ability of the Mother of all Parliaments to make laws for its own people?
[ Sources: EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 26 Jul 2019
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