Yes, and I believe every word of it that's printed........I lie!!! The EU is extremely bureaucratic, with innumerable layers/tiers of councils, departments, all with their own agenda, and the real figures tend to get blurred, distorted, buried, inflated, shrunk, because of that..........hmmmm, kind of reminds me of Banks, and Organisations that don't want to pay taxes in the countries that they operate in. Now that statement doesn't make me anti EU, what I saying is that any financial statement/analysis from huge bureaucratic organisations can never be the real facts or state of affairs. Even councils annual statements are inexact with diagrams of "pies" and the like. If you were to investigate the actual figures you would, in this age of transparency, meet fierce resistance in trying to do so.
My reply was to an allegation that said The EU does publish it's accounts, you or I can choose to believe them or not, the fact is that they are published.
Splitting hairs. I'm pretty sure there's been plenty of controversy around various chunks of money being categorized one way, then changed years later because someone realised that it would result in a higher bill. Wasn't it Italy that got shafted when the eu suddenly decided that illegally obtained money for prostitution and drugs was suddenly national income, so that Italy's bill could be increased? Still, probably serves them right for breaking eu rules bysaving their own failing industry by disguising a bailout as a research and development grant. The eu would be perfectly fine if only our government could accept it for what it is and play the game. Trouble is, it's only us that follows the rules. Everyone else must be laughing at us. I can just imagine the French, Belgians and Germans, sat round the table tittering, someone says 'let's ban bendy bananas and see if Britain stops selling them'.
20 years of lies and financial miss management http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...more-than-100billion-of-its-own-spending.html Not signed off because they are a joke. About as trustworthy as getting a call late at night from a "financial advisor" from Nigeria.
I'm glad to see you're so open minded and undecided on the EU, Wee Tam, but don't worry you'll know what to vote when the time comes. I agree,LW. But publishing financial statements doesn't make them doesn't make them factual or "accurate" as recent history in the Political and Financial world has shown. The saying "History is written by the Victors" can be translated into "Financial reports/statements are written by those in control" and both can be viewed as biased and not accurate. Many European governments have been proved to issue analysis and reports on their financial state and economy that have rung true, it all part of the belief by Politicians that the Man on The Street can and will accept anything they say or publish.
Just clarify things a bit. When it says that they 'haven't been signed off' (both EU and HMRC) it really means that their accountants have refused to say that they are a 'true and correct' statement of the finances. If that had happened with my business the taxman would have instigated an immediate investigation. This doesn't happen with governments or government type organisations. Misdirection is an art form in government.
It Seems Cameron is telling us we need to vote IN, at the same time he has not, as far as I can tell, managed to get any agreements on his terms. He's backing down before actually achieving any movement from the EU. Which he knows, and has known from day one, will not happen. And, although I have reservations, makes me feel even more, I need to vote OUT.
Yes, each and every time I keep deciding to vote IN, David Cameron keeps coming out with something that makes me want OUT. If he wants IN, he should keep his mouth shut.
I remember being very, very young (maybe 3 or 4 years old?) and the first time I heard the Okey-Cokey ... all that "in", "out", totally confused me and I ended up falling over This EU Okey-Cokey will no doubt have the same affect
Last week , Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokey Cokey" died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part, for his family, was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in , then his right arm in ,and then all the trouble started.
I never wanted in back in the joining era, I don't remember a vote as I was young but it did seem wrong at the time
Yeah, I blame Ted Heath, probably one of the weakest PM we have ever had. Spent most of his time swanning around on a cloud,.... in the mornings.
