Europe

[Adrian II]

Nothing is banned under these rules: they simply help to inform traders of particular specifications.

Sorry Louis, but that's wrong.

The old rules did ban all fruits and veggies that did not conform to the regulations. Here is what the responsible Commissioner had to say:

12 Nov, 2008 - Rules governing the size and shape of fruit and vegetables will be consigned to history after European Union Member States today voted on Commission proposals to repeal specific marketing standards for 26 types of fruit and vegetables.
Daily News Alerts

The Commission's initiative to get rid of these standards is a major element in its ongoing efforts to streamline and simplify EU rules and cut red tape. For 10 types of fruit and vegetables, including apples, strawberries and tomatoes, marketing standards will remain in place. But even for these 10, Member States could for the first time allow shops to sell products that don't respect the standards, as long as they are labelled to distinguish them from 'extra', 'class I' and 'class II' fruit. In other words, the new rules will allow national authorities to permit the sale of all fruit and vegetables, regardless of their size and shape.

"This marks a new dawn for the curvy cucumber and the knobbly carrot," said Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. "It's a concrete example of our drive to cut unnecessary red tape. We simply don't need to regulate this sort of thing at EU level. It is far better to leave it to market operators. And in these days of high food prices and general economic difficulties, consumers should be able to choose from the widest range of products possible. It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' shape."

Linky

[Louis VI the Fat]

Sorry Louis, but that's wrong.

Europe ought to ban pesky reporters and their meddlesome ways.

[Beskar]

If no one can find purple spuds, it isn't Europe, it is called Market forces, aka, no one is buying them therefore they aren't sold, thus they aren't stocked.

Apply for them at your local supermarket or greengrocers or even the town market.

[HoreTore]

If no one can find purple spuds, it isn't Europe, it is called Market forces, aka, no one is buying them therefore they aren't sold, thus they aren't stocked.

Uhm.....

Now, I may be thinking of a different shade of purple here, but.... One of the two most common potato versions here in Norway, is purple. At least what I would call purple.... Or maybe red or pink....

[Adrian II]

Europe ought to ban pesky reporters and their meddlesome ways.

I know, I plead for it in my column every week. But somehow I have fallen into disrepute with the other leftist media that control this world, manipulate peoples' perceptions and force their slanted leftwing views on them.

In other words, nobody listens.

[Louis VI the Fat]

nobody listens.

Then stop with your use of sources, original sources, refusal of hearsay and long attention span in a bid to get to the bottom of things, you amateur.

Aim for the holy grail of modern newspaper reporting: the column. Quick opinion over hard fact, custum build to fill the appetite of readers eager to get their existing opinion confirmed.

[Beskar]

Then stop using sources, original sources, hearsay and a long attention span in a bid to get to the bottom of things, you amateur.

Aim for the holy grail of modern newspaper reporting: the column. Quick opinion over hard fact, custum build to fill the appetite of readers eager to get their existing opinion confirmed.

Like telling everyone that if there is even a slight curve in a cucumber, it won't be sold forced on us by the evil EU?

[Tribesman]

taters weren't regulated by Brussels to begin with.

And you don't get subsidies or quotas for spuds

[Adrian II]

Then stop using sources, original sources, hearsay and a long attention span in a bid to get to the bottom of things, you amateur.

Here I was thinking people wanted to be informed. How stoopid can you get?

[Fragony]

http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu...article-183563

"When the Irish people rejected the Lisbon treaty a year ago, the initial reactions ranged from one of shock to horror, to aghastness and temper and vexation," said McCreevy, the EU's internal market commissioner.

"On the other hand, I think all the politicians of Europe would have known quite well that if a similar question had been put to their electorate in a referendum the answer in 95% of countries would have been 'no' as well," McCreevy told a meeting of accountants in Dublin.

[Louis VI the Fat]

To which I would like to add:

This is not only an embarrasment to the UK conservatives. It is a situation of concern for the whole of the UK.

One of the two largest political parties that represent UK interests in Europe, is now taken over by Polish nationalists.

Who will see to British interests in Brussles?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Mr Kaminski admitted to The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that he had been an NOP member but only under Communism, "between 1987 and 1989". "It was a time I am very proud of, when at the age of 15, I decided to become a member of the underground against the Communist dictatorship. At the time this was a patriotic youth organisation not anti-Semitic or Nazi," he said.

Says it all, doesn't it? Let the man be, this is a big deal about nothing.

[Furunculus]

"It was a time I am very proud of, when at the age of 15, I decided to become a member of the underground against the Communist dictatorship. At the time this was a patriotic youth organisation not anti-Semitic or Nazi,"

Says it all, doesn't it? Let the man be, this is a big deal about nothing.

"Someone who has not lived his life under dictatorship should very careful of accusing people who were in the anti-communist underground. I was brave enough to raise the banner."

agreed EMFM, and i have a lot of sympathy with the above view, given that it is relevant to my own youth, and alien to most others.

[Furunculus]

To which I would like to add:

This is not only an embarrasment to the UK conservatives. It is a situation of concern for the whole of the UK.

One of the two largest political parties that represent UK interests in Europe, is now taken over by Polish nationalists.

Who will see to British interests in Brussles?

i'll decide what i find embarrassing thank you very much, and that was a notionally anti-federalist national party i supported sitting in a federalist european party.

good, i'm a british (civic) nationalist, so i find that more than palatable.

certainly not the EPP or the party labour sits within.

[Furunculus]

good article on the implications of the german constitutional ruling on lisbon, and how it may affect supra-national governance in future:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...636706,00.html

OPINION
The Future of European Democracy

By Thomas Darnstädt

Card-carrying Europeans reacted in dismay to a recent far-reaching ruling on the EU's Lisbon Treaty by Germany's Constitutional Court. But the judges have in fact done Europeans a huge service by tackling the issue of how democracy can work in the era of supranational institutions..................................

[rory_20_uk]

Well, it's only been running for over a decade and costing billions, but better late than never...