Euro Area

[Papewaio]

If you lost the ability to set quotas on fish why isn't offshore oil in a similar situation? I assume UK still has sovereignty over its oil, so why can't it quota it's fish?

If you can't quota then you can't conserve and you also appear to lack sovereignty over a key aspect of a nation and that is its waters. I'm sure there is no unrestricted access to farmland too.

[gaelic cowboy]

If you lost the ability to set quotas on fish why isn't offshore oil in a similar situation? I assume UK still has sovereignty over its oil, so why can't it quota it's fish?

If you can't quota then you can't conserve and you also appear to lack sovereignty over a key aspect of a nation and that is its waters. I'm sure there is no unrestricted access to farmland too.

The oil stays in one place and so does the platform hence it is controllable

[Papewaio]

The oil stays in one place and so does the platform hence it is controllable

So it seems special interest groups are filling up the troughs of the indirectly elected EU politicians.

The rulesets look like they haven't been thought out holistically. Most of the time you see the EU ahead/over reacting to conservation claims. But just like the Mediterranean it seems the North Sea is going to soon be overfished.

If you have an EU quota one would expect an EU coast guard/navy to enforce the rules kind of like an Interpol of the seas.

If you cannot enforce rules within your sovereignty it is a failure of the state.

Look at what happened to Somalia when Europeans pillaged their fisheries.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

So it seems special interest groups are filling up the troughs of the indirectly elected EU politicians.

The rulesets look like they haven't been thought out holistically. Most of the time you see the EU ahead/over reacting to conservation claims. But just like the Mediterranean it seems the North Sea is going to soon be overfished.

If you have an EU quota one would expect an EU coast guard/navy to enforce the rules kind of like an Interpol of the seas.

If you cannot enforce rules within your sovereignty it is a failure of the state.

Look at what happened to Somalia when Europeans pillaged their fisheries.

The only way for Britain to enforce sanity is unilaterally, and we would be vengefully punished.

I happen to think that this is important enough that we should do it anyway - but that's not the point. The point is you can't get 27 separate countries to agree a sane fisheries policy, especially when Spain can buy off countries like Poland with votes at a later date.

Stop the EU - we want to get off.

[SoFarSoGood]

So I read this Future of Europe Group (Foreign Ministers of 11 countries) paper and some of it not actualy BAD bad... They propose an elected 'President' and that the European Parliament will be able to start legislation (whereas at present only the Commission can do this and the Parliament just says yes or no). Yes it does mention a common defence policy etc... basicly the blueprint for a pseudo democratic new country called Europe. The is a new 'Treaty' in the making... definately what they see as the future. We all know how they have a habit getting their Treaties passed...

They might need this new army sooner then they think... Catalonia is going to the polls on November 25 and if the seperatists win they have promised a referemdum of independance; "The time has come to exercise the right to self-determination" says Catalonia's President Artur Mas. Such a vote is unconstitutional in Spanish law... Given Colonel Francisco Alaman reaction to such an idea ("...over my dead body") and the fact that 25% of young Spanish are unemployed and a lot trouble could be brewing.