From Hansard (Lords):
Lord Lamont of Lerwick (Col 533):
".... was something called the competitiveness pact, which covered a whole range of policies including: the indexation of wages as applied to countries such as Belgium; the retirement age; and having a uniform system of corporate tax."
Lord Howell of Guildford (Col 544):
"My noble friend Lord Lamont also asked about the competitiveness pact. I can tell him that the latest draft of the pact makes it clear that: " The Pact will fully respect the integrity of the Single Market". I am then advised that non-eurozone countries-such as us, among others-have been invited to join the pact and that we are assessing whether we should do so." (my emphasis)
Open Europe press summary adds:
"Non-eurozone countries, such as the UK, must decide at this week’s summit whether or not they will take part in the wide ranging proposals for economic governance – which include tax coordination, labour market reforms and EU supervision of national budgets."
Is not setting the indexation of wages, the retirement age, supervision of national budgets and corporate tax not presently a power of nation states? If a nation is being told that to join the competitiveness pact means that power over these matters will be ceded to the EU - is that not a loss of powers? Should we, the people, not be asked whether we agree to this?
Just asking............
2 comments:
And it will all pass quietly with barely a whisper from the media. What's the betting it doesn't hit the popular mainstream until it's done and dusted?
Ah GV, but Libya is much more interesting and newsworthy, isn't it?
Actually I doubt wether the MSM will bother to report it even when it is done and dusted. If it is it will be slipped out later as one sentence in another article.
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