The Great European Rip-off
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Book Description
A devastating indictment of EU waste and corruption, from the bestselling author of Squandered
Product Description
In this EU election year, it's time for people across Europe to look at what really goes on in Brussels in our name.
It has been estimated that the EU costs us around £1,000 billion a year - an incredible £2000 for every man, woman and child in Europe. So what do we get for our money? Politicians and administrators selflessly working to bring us efficient government? Well-targeted regulations that promote economic prosperity? A safe and free society? A well-protected environment? Help for people in poorer countries?
Or is our money being squandered by a self-serving euro-elite of unaccountable politicians and incompetent bureaucrats, or else devoured in a feeding frenzy of fraud and corruption where a few lucky insiders become unimaginably rich at our expense? And is the tsunami of regulation pouring out of Brussels in reality strangling industry, destroying jobs, restricting personal freedom, desecrating the environment and further impoverishing the developing world?
Using their extensive network of insider sources, David Craig and Matthew Elliott smash through the secrecy and disinformation that are the Brussels hallmark to reveal what our European rulers are really getting up to. The result is a horrifying story of bureaucracy, hypocrisy and kleptocracy - and how we are all suffering as a result.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
43 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the third book I've read by David Craig. The others were Plundering the Public Sector, which revealed how much private consultants have dipped into our taxes under Labour, and Squandered, which took a broader look at Gordon Brown's overtaxing and overspending. Both books are well worth reading, especially in light of the current controversies over public-sector trough-snouting and Brown's economic skills.
This one is more vital. It is the most readable (300 pages in good, plain English) yet comprehensive guide available to what the EU is doing with our money and, more importantly, doing to democracy in Europe.
The EU is not popular in Britain, something which is too often put down to media scaremongering. Our media certainly does scaremonger very well but sometimes when there is smoke, there is fire. This book coolly and often wittily sets out the truth behind the bureaucracy, the over-regulation, the power-grabbing, the troughing and the often mad policies (the Common Fisheries Policy is mind-boggling!) with references so you can do your own research if you feel sceptical. And the scary thing is the truth is a fair bit worse than what the Sun or the Daily Mail print. In fact you may wonder why these papers waste print with stories about straight bananas while ignoring much more serious scandals like the Common Agricultural Policy and the Biofuels debacle.
In June we vote for our MEPs - their toothlessness is another topic covered - and in this election we get our only real say in how Europe is run. You will have the choice between supine Europhiles or people prepared to stand up and try and change things (like current YouTube celebrity Daniel Hannan). Read this and learn what is at stake before you vote.
This one is more vital. It is the most readable (300 pages in good, plain English) yet comprehensive guide available to what the EU is doing with our money and, more importantly, doing to democracy in Europe.
The EU is not popular in Britain, something which is too often put down to media scaremongering. Our media certainly does scaremonger very well but sometimes when there is smoke, there is fire. This book coolly and often wittily sets out the truth behind the bureaucracy, the over-regulation, the power-grabbing, the troughing and the often mad policies (the Common Fisheries Policy is mind-boggling!) with references so you can do your own research if you feel sceptical. And the scary thing is the truth is a fair bit worse than what the Sun or the Daily Mail print. In fact you may wonder why these papers waste print with stories about straight bananas while ignoring much more serious scandals like the Common Agricultural Policy and the Biofuels debacle.
In June we vote for our MEPs - their toothlessness is another topic covered - and in this election we get our only real say in how Europe is run. You will have the choice between supine Europhiles or people prepared to stand up and try and change things (like current YouTube celebrity Daniel Hannan). Read this and learn what is at stake before you vote.
31 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a scathing analysis of the EU's corruption and power-grabbing, led by Britain's ruling class. The authors, David Craig, a management consultant and author, and Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, show how the EU strangles industry, destroys jobs, cuts personal freedoms, wrecks the environment and impoverishes developing countries.
The EU Commissioners get £1.7 million for their five-year term. MEPs get vast salaries, expenses and pensions - £2.1 million for five years. Britain's MEPs are to get a 32% pay rise this June and a new tax rate of 13-17%, halving their taxes.
Under the Common Agricultural Policy, Scotland's biggest landowners get £230,000 a year each. 85% of the CAP's annual £62 billion budget goes to the richest 18% of farms. The CAP also subsidises EU exports to the third world, and puts duties on their imports to us. For every pound of EU aid, the CAP takes away two.
Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that the EU's freedom of movement laws entitled foreign workers to get Irish benefits even after they had returned home. The Court's remit is to promote EU integration; the only way to change any of its decisions is for all 27 member state governments to agree to do so.
After the French and Danish Noes to the EU Constitution, the EU's leaders, Blair included, absurdly claimed "the results do not call into question citizens' attachment to the constitution of Europe." Brown is still trying to sneak through the Constitution without a referendum, in the Lisbon Treaty. As a senior British civil servant said in 1971, "Of course this is the end of British democracy as we have known it, but if it is properly handled the people won't know what's happened until the end of the century. With any luck, old boy, by then I'll be dead."
The authors say the EU needs reform. They write, "countries like Britain should be permitted to declare their utilities like energy and water as strategic national resources." Should be permitted? By the same EU that wants to steal our resources?
After showing for nearly 300 pages how the EU seizes powers, they say it should shed those powers. After showing how it rides over democracy, they say it should promote democracy. They call on MEPs to vote themselves out of existence and on the Commission to stop issuing regulations. They say the EU should scrap the CAP, yet they have shown that the French would never vote for this.
They note that, "a useful question might be whether [the EU] can ever be reformed." Their book gives us the answer - No. The authors have proved that the EU is bad for Britain - so we need to demand a referendum on the Constitution, and we must leave this rubbish club.
The EU Commissioners get £1.7 million for their five-year term. MEPs get vast salaries, expenses and pensions - £2.1 million for five years. Britain's MEPs are to get a 32% pay rise this June and a new tax rate of 13-17%, halving their taxes.
Under the Common Agricultural Policy, Scotland's biggest landowners get £230,000 a year each. 85% of the CAP's annual £62 billion budget goes to the richest 18% of farms. The CAP also subsidises EU exports to the third world, and puts duties on their imports to us. For every pound of EU aid, the CAP takes away two.
Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that the EU's freedom of movement laws entitled foreign workers to get Irish benefits even after they had returned home. The Court's remit is to promote EU integration; the only way to change any of its decisions is for all 27 member state governments to agree to do so.
After the French and Danish Noes to the EU Constitution, the EU's leaders, Blair included, absurdly claimed "the results do not call into question citizens' attachment to the constitution of Europe." Brown is still trying to sneak through the Constitution without a referendum, in the Lisbon Treaty. As a senior British civil servant said in 1971, "Of course this is the end of British democracy as we have known it, but if it is properly handled the people won't know what's happened until the end of the century. With any luck, old boy, by then I'll be dead."
The authors say the EU needs reform. They write, "countries like Britain should be permitted to declare their utilities like energy and water as strategic national resources." Should be permitted? By the same EU that wants to steal our resources?
After showing for nearly 300 pages how the EU seizes powers, they say it should shed those powers. After showing how it rides over democracy, they say it should promote democracy. They call on MEPs to vote themselves out of existence and on the Commission to stop issuing regulations. They say the EU should scrap the CAP, yet they have shown that the French would never vote for this.
They note that, "a useful question might be whether [the EU] can ever be reformed." Their book gives us the answer - No. The authors have proved that the EU is bad for Britain - so we need to demand a referendum on the Constitution, and we must leave this rubbish club.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you want to know just how much incompetence, waste, corruption, mass deception and downright skullduggery goes on in the cause of the so called European Union dream read this book. The writers apply the scalpel to the EU budget (plundered, badly managed and impossible to audit), MEPs (overpaid, politically impotent and useless), Commission over-regulation (illogical, oppressive and anti-democratic), the CAP (the most stupid idea since Stalin's collectivisation) and the Lisbon Treaty (a gigantic con trick pulled on the people of Europe by a bunch of elitist, arrogant, power grabbing bureaucrats accountable to no one but themselves). Even the most ardent Europhile must admit that the EU is in bad shape and no longer serving the people's interests as it was intended to do.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A chilling and scary book
The only occasion that the EU seem to show any degree of efficiency is when they have to deal with a whistle blower who is quickly silenced and discredited- this is '1984' good and... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. M. Kostyrka
UK I P (UK rip)
The UK Independence Party wants out of the EU.
I voted for them.
This Book is full of shocking stories about the EU. Read more
I voted for them.
This Book is full of shocking stories about the EU. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Billy Ray Cyrus
A Great Book - Opens your eyes to the EU
A really interesting book based on fact.
It opens your eyes to what goes on behind the scenes in the EU.
A must-read for every European.
It opens your eyes to what goes on behind the scenes in the EU.
A must-read for every European.
Published 15 months ago
Eye opening
Before I had read this book, I was mostly a Europhile who was prepared to accept some flaws to live with the advantages of the EU, such as free trade. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Conkerbot
Hysterical, self-righteous rant
Tedious, obnoxious propaganda that does exactly what it says on the tin. If you hate the EU and want to be congratulated for it, this is the book for you. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2010 by Sima Jieming
Time our government started resisting European control
This is a scary book, even for a euro-sceptic. The scale of the European kleptocracy, arrogance, waste, self-promotion and deceit is staggering, and involves... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2010 by Ken Grew
Almost completely baseless...
I bought this in an attempt to understand both sides of the argument. Unfortunately it becomes somewhat apparent from reading just the first few pages that this account is not... Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2009 by M. Odell
Seperated from fact and reality
I bought this wanting to read a euro-skeptic view of the European Union. However i did at least expect it to have a basis in fact. Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2009 by J. Nichols
This is a book to be read by every European
Its time people woke up to the dangers of the EUSSR. People who have lived through the Russian soviet era say we are building another Soviet, just look on YouTube and you will find... Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by B. J. A. Searle
A depressing look at those unfit to govern us.
A depressing but very necessary read. It's easy to ignore what the EU is up to, but this shows why we should pay more attention and seek and get more control of those who control... Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2009 by cw
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