Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWell, that's got the Front National vote sewn up ahead of the Presidential elections, hasn't it!
Booted the British out of play!
Who's a clever boy then?
President Sarkozy is triumphant.
He has saved the Euro.
He has used the British to ensure that Chancellor Merkel...the other half of the pantomime horse....can't settle the finances of the Eurozone by a European Union level treaty.
So no referendum, no unpleasantnesses....and no binding agreement to what he has signed up to do.
Cigar for the gentleman!
Whatever one might think of the financial legerdemain practised in the City of London, whose lack of regulation is a major factor in allowing the shenanigans of the likes of MF Global to take place, the City is a vital British interest, so it was easy to trap Cameron into vetoing a treaty.
So where are we now?
The French prime minister announces that there will be no more austerity measures...until he sees where he is after the first financial quarter next year.
Election year, so no surprise there, then.
The French public have enough worries with SNCF changing the train times without receiving further nasty shocks before deciding which head of the political hydra gets their vote.
Private investors don't get a haircut...i.e. banks get off scot free.
So that's secured the consultancy when political life is over, then...
And, best of all, there's no need to do anything about balancing the French books because there's no way the necessary measures will get the required majority, now that the Senate is in the hands of the PS (socialist party). They won't hear of it.
So, Sarkozy is in seventh heaven echoing the prayer of Augustine....
Make me (financially) chaste, but not yet......
If ever....
Booted the British out of play!
Who's a clever boy then?
President Sarkozy is triumphant.
He has saved the Euro.
He has used the British to ensure that Chancellor Merkel...the other half of the pantomime horse....can't settle the finances of the Eurozone by a European Union level treaty.
So no referendum, no unpleasantnesses....and no binding agreement to what he has signed up to do.
Cigar for the gentleman!
Whatever one might think of the financial legerdemain practised in the City of London, whose lack of regulation is a major factor in allowing the shenanigans of the likes of MF Global to take place, the City is a vital British interest, so it was easy to trap Cameron into vetoing a treaty.
So where are we now?
The French prime minister announces that there will be no more austerity measures...until he sees where he is after the first financial quarter next year.
Election year, so no surprise there, then.
The French public have enough worries with SNCF changing the train times without receiving further nasty shocks before deciding which head of the political hydra gets their vote.
Private investors don't get a haircut...i.e. banks get off scot free.
So that's secured the consultancy when political life is over, then...
And, best of all, there's no need to do anything about balancing the French books because there's no way the necessary measures will get the required majority, now that the Senate is in the hands of the PS (socialist party). They won't hear of it.
So, Sarkozy is in seventh heaven echoing the prayer of Augustine....
Make me (financially) chaste, but not yet......
If ever....
Posts
Like him or loathe him, it was Sarkozy that played a blinder and not, as alleged by blinkered Boris, David Chameleon. Cameron went looking for special protection for the City of London and came back with..err..nothing. The City is no less subject to the strictures of EU regulation than when Cameron started out on his fool's errand. I can't see there being dancing in the streets of Basildon at Cameron's latest 'success'. Unregulated markets with light touch regulation can hardly be regarded as a vote-winner in the UK - endowment mis-selling, pensions mis-selling, personal protection insurance mis-selling, income multiple mortgage free-for-all - no income, no problem, the banking collapse, oh, and now HSBC mis-selling care fees bonds to pensioners. It's this sort of shenanigans that Cameron is 'protecting'.
ReplyDeleteYes, a neat bit of maouevring, Fly. Will it improve his chances of re-election do you think? If the Senate has swung left, could the presidency follow?
ReplyDeleteIs it still worth me buying a Euromillions lottery ticket?
ReplyDeleteThe first comment here could also refer to deregulation or lack of entirely and related chicanery here in America...and its the taxpayers not the banks or corporations that are footing the bill and the dealing with the consequences of withered budgets for needs and services.
ReplyDeletefourmenterian, how I agree!
ReplyDeleteHere we are, legatees of the Thatcher heritage...no industry, just legalised chicanery as our one national asset!
Perpetua...my bet is a second round run off Le Pen v Hollande....Bayrou spoiling the Sarko vote.
That is if she finds 500 maires willing to court financial sanctions on their communes if they sign up for her to qualify for the presidentials...
Steve, of course it is! Sarko says do! Your ticket is safe in his hands...
e, but have you noticed that the MF Global fraud was enabled by the lack of U.K. regulation?
And who in power cares about us?
I should have added to the list of 'benefits' that the City brings to the UK the current situation with unsecured lending. Not that long ago i.e. before the banking collapse, the general rule was that banks would lend on immediate call (overdraft) 2% above base if it was secured and 4% above base (unsecured). These days, with UK overdrafts, no interest at all is paid if an account is in credit and my UK based account charges 17.9% for an unsecured (authorised) overdraft, a whopping 17.4% above base rate - not good news for small UK businesses which should be the engine of an recovery. As if that wasn't bad enough, the UK government must know that 'payday' loans aren't a good idea yet it allows these loan shops to lend at rates of around 2000% APR then wonders why people get into debt. I agree with author of this blog, it is difficult to decipher that those in power really have the public interest at heart.
ReplyDeleteWell yes. Nothing changes. Here we are, facing massive meltdown, and politicans still think first about what personal benefits they can possibly screw out of the situation.
ReplyDeleteHello:
ReplyDeleteWe do not profess to understand to any detailed degree the financial or political situations across the EU, but it seems a sad day to us when Britain puts itself outside the central machinery of the EU and so, once again, promoting anti European sentiments on some dubious 'Pro British' stance.
As Hungary, led by the megalomaniac Orban seems to be Britain's only ally in these shenanigans, then from what we see here in Budapest, the British need to be afraid, very afraid!!!
fourmentarian, I suppose we have to ask who it is that they see as 'their people'.
ReplyDeleteI suspect it is the members of the media, financial political nexus which has hijacked democracy in the last thirty years.
Pueblo girl, yes, exactly so! What has this done to solve the problems of mad spending. Nothing.
Lance and Jane Hattatt, why so modest?
We can all see the general outlines of the problem which our politicians seem unwilling to sort.
I have never had any time for Cameron...a truly stupid man...or the influence he represents, but for France and Germany to be playing power politics when Athens is burning is all too unfortunately not beyond belief.
I have never seen any sign of U.K. influence in Europe...just opt outs from general agreements.
But as to Orban...I agree...you have to beware of your friends!
Having lived through the Cold War, I think there is a general feeling of betrayal that the 'peace' dividend has been squandered. I can remember watching, with tears in my eyes, the streams of Trabants snaking through the border crossings, and thinking that we were entering a new era. How has it come to this? The UK government adopts the posture of almost seeking enemies and the leaders of France and Germany take up the cudgels. Yet, when I go about my daily business in France - in my broken French - I find nothing but courtesy, a willingness to engage, a recognition of common humanity. I have never felt so detached from those who govern as I do now. I suspect I am not alone.
ReplyDeletefourentarian, my French friends feel similarly detached.
ReplyDeleteThere's some excellent analysis about the situation here:
ReplyDeletehttp://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/fiscal-analysis-why-money-no-longer-just-talks/
Sarah, The Slog is superb...saying the unthinkable.
ReplyDeleteAmazed to find two fellow readers of he Slog in the same comments thread!
ReplyDeletefourmenterian, you get some sharp readers here!
ReplyDelete