Europe/EU - Latest Lunacy

[Mr T.]

'Idiotic' EU directive accused of threat to medical research
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Roger Highfield
(Filed: 04/10/2004)

Vital medical research is faltering across the European Union as the result of a poorly drafted law that has infuriated scientists.

Researchers fear that the EU's Clinical Trials Directive will impose a heavy burden of extra costs, complexity and paperwork on universities and hospitals carrying out low-budget studies of medical products.

The law was agreed in 2001 to harmonise EU standards, even though the existing code of conduct worked well. The directive, which came into force in Britain in May, has led to a Europe-wide freeze on a range of future trials planned by research groups, or caused a flight to more hospitable locations outside the EU.

Prof Richard Gray, the head of Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit, called the directive bureaucracy run mad.

"We have not undertaken any new projects for a year because of this," he said. "It's the most complete nonsense. Everybody is running around like headless chickens trying to work out how to cope."

More than 2,000 scientists have signed a petition calling for repeal of the law. A survey of more than 400 doctors found that only 40 per cent of respondents knew of the new directive. "It was quite shocking that so few knew about it and its implications," said Dr Neil Bacon, the founder and chief executive of Doctors.net.uk, which carried out the survey. "Doctors are starting to express concerns. It is clear that small, unfashionable trials won't be possible."

Almost 45 per cent of respondents said the directive would make them reconsider being involved in trials.

Britain is badly hit because roughly half all "phase-one" clinical trials in the EU are held here though complaints are pouring in from Italy, Spain, Ireland and Eastern Europe.

Prof Gray said the paperwork would deter doctors from referring their patients for trials, depriving the research bodies of their lifeblood in fields such as Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's, and cancer.

The worst affected would be the mass trials that often lead to a breakthrough in the hunt for cheap and easy treatments. These can involve as many as 70,000 people taking no more than a daily dose of aspirin, and rely entirely on goodwill and the volunteer spirit.

The law was intended for big drug firms which conduct high-cost trials with small numbers of people. It was made more draconian by Euro-MPs and ministers hoping to protect patients from abuse.

Dr Richard Sullivan, the head of Cancer Research UK, said it would raise the cost of academic and non-commercial studies by up to four times. "The idiots who designed this had no understanding of the vast amount of other research going on," he said. "It's not going to make the slightest difference to the big firms but it's awful for the little guys."

Privately, EU officials admit the directive was badly mishandled. They are preparing "flexible" guidelines that in effect urge governments to violate the law they have just introduced. British authorities are also searching for ways to soften the legislation.

Dr Brian Moulton, the head of Save European Research, said the law should be scrapped immediately. "Common sense will have to prevail somehow because you can't just let European research close down overnight - can you?" he said.

[Mr T.]

Personally, I'm on the side of free trade and the charities.

Originally Posted by chrisch

One idiot commissioner (and lets be honest there are plenty {Mandy..})...

Knives are out for Mandelson as new job begins
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels
(Filed: 04/10/2004)

Peter Mandelson comes under close scrutiny from Euro-MPs of all political shades today as he seeks to be confirmed in the role of European trade commissioner.

No other commissioner-designate evokes such a mix of hostility and suspicion in Brussels as New Labour's propagandist, the twice-disgraced Cabinet minister seen as the spearhead of free-market reform in the 25-strong team of Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president.


Peter Mandelson: will push a free trade agenda [picture removed]

The job will give Mr Mandelson power over sectors and industries, allowing him to shape the European Union's economic structure.

The Tories and the UK Independence Party are sharpening their knives for today's three-hour session. So is Paul van Buitenen MEP, a Dutch reformer who has deployed staff to research the two scandals that drove Mr Mandelson from the Cabinet.

Pressure is also expected from the French Left, keen to put the "Blairo-Thatcherite" on trial for alleged crimes against socialism.

Harlem Desir, a French MEP, said: "Peter Mandelson does not speak to our concerns at all so we cannot support him. We are totally at odds over the direction of world trade at this critical juncture." [Bren's Edit: rich coming from a French wallah as they've never spoken for the UK's! - cf. anyting De Gaulle said about us and put in as French policy, which is still in place today.]

The fear is that global free trade will force privatisation of the French state-run sector by opening services to unbridled competition. [Bren's Edit: and about time too! Chirac stated back in 1984 ("if I ever become French President...") that he'd love to do what Thatcher did in opening up the country to "what the rest of the world enjoys" - and now the French haven't - for the last 26 years!! - managed to balance their domestic budget, let alone their EU committments. They have successfully remortgaged their childrens' and grandchildrens' futures in terms of pensions and inheritance tax capabilities: also they can have 'holiday vouchers', 'food vouchers' (what you and I see as, for example, a ticket to go to McDonalds, free on the gov't) when ever they want it (coz hey, 'everything's free', right? No one actually has to 'pay' for it?), and any other number of 'Social Securities' any French family can demand (and get as a matter of course) from their gov't.]

Le Nouvel Observateur described the Barroso team as a "capitalist putsch", singling out Mr Mandelson for criticism. "This Labourite wants to turn the EU into a vast transatlantic free-trade zone, against all our ideals," it said.

The continental media has made much of Mr Mandelson's role in privatising Wessex Water to the bankrupt American firm Enron while Trade and Industry Secretary.

Questions have also been raised over his meetings with American officials and business leaders at the Ditchley Foundation, a transatlantic brain-storming group based in Oxfordshire.

But Mr Mandelson has allies, too, including charities such as Oxfam that see genuine free trade as the best way to raise living standards in the developing world. He has vowed to fight for an end to the trade barriers that hurt poor countries.

In written answers to MEPs, Mr Mandelson said he had always been a passionate fan of the European project. "It was not easy to be a pro-European in the Labour Party of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I was first trying to make my way. But from my first political engagement as a student, I can honestly say I have never wavered in this commitment." [Bren's Edit: aye, up to and including flogging UK passports to the 'less than deserving' out of the back of your chauffeur-driven vehicle....]

He pledged to work for the EU's collective interest rather as an envoy for Britain. "I want to assure you that I am crystal clear where my obligations now lie," he said. [Bren's Edit: althought, for God's sake, don't mention how your tax dollars/Euros are going to pay for me and my Brazilian boyfriend's travelling expenses! I managed, whilst in power in the UK, to get a ban on reporting that - can I do the same here?]

Promising to refrain from spin, he hinted at a future role in helping to promote the European constitution at a referendum.

[Mr T.]

Which other body (trading or otherwise) would be allowed to continue on where it had not had passed or balanced a budget for over 10 years?



Auditors reject 'unsafe' EU budget
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels
(Filed: 17/11/2004)

The European Union's financial watchdog refused to sign off the Brussels budget yesterday for the tenth year in a row, finding that 93.4 per cent of spending was either unsafe or riddled with errors.

The figures released by the European Court of Auditors were even worse than last year, when 91 per cent was deemed unsafe, chiefly due to abuses in the new member states in Eastern Europe.

"Once again, the court has no reasonable assurance that the supervisory systems and controls of significant areas of the budget are effectively implemented," it said.

It rebuked Brussels in its annual report for failing to "satisfy the legitimate expectations of the citizens of the union".

Spot checks found fraud or error – leading to demands for repayment – in 25 per cent of farm aid in Italy, 23 per cent in Greece, 21 per cent in Spain and 14 per cent in France, but most abuses remain undiscovered.

The error rate for farm aid in Britain was six per cent, falling to one per cent in Holland, Denmark, and Finland.

A senior EU auditor said the £70 billion Brussels budget was "high risk" because most of it was doled out to member states, making it hard to track.

But he said commission insiders set a dreadful tone by behaving like "rats in a bag seeking to evade responsibility".

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, seized on the report to boost his call for an EU spending cap of one per cent of GDP.


EU Fact File

[6uldv8]

Originally Posted by Adrian Kelland

I have noticed that our team is "Great Britain", which is made up of 3 countries.

This is something I have never understood. I was under the impression that Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England were individual countries. Why do they participate as one nation at the Olympics?

[Mr T.]

Originally Posted by 6uldv8

This is something I have never understood. I was under the impression that Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England were individual countries. Why do they participate as one nation at the Olympics?

Wales = a Principality, not a country

Scotland (pre & post The Act of Union) = a country

Nothern Ireland = a Province, not a country

England = a country


Great Britain = England, Scotland & Wales (so named, historically, to differentiate it from Brittany in France: 'Great' being used in its quantitive sense to denote size rather than it being 'super')

The United Kingdom = England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.

The British Isles = UK & Ireland/Eire, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, the Scottish Isles etc.

Hope that helps.

[Mick F]

Originally Posted by Dinger

But we can have dual nationallity type thing - I have 2 passports - can come in very handy at times that.
Dinger

Yeah, but Dinger, they're meant to be in the same name mate

[NotDeadYet]

Originally Posted by 6uldv8

This is something I have never understood. I was under the impression that Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England were individual countries. Why do they participate as one nation at the Olympics?

If only... not yet I'm afraid. Ireland is an independant country, they got that decades ago. Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland are not, although each have some form of devolved government.

I could go into a rant over how we have only been given our own parliament now that the heyday of North Sea oil has gone and Scotland isn't as big a resource as it once was (apart from dumping their irradiated shite in it). I never understood why the English caved into armed revolt in Ireland but ignored the Scots who largely protested within the law.

As for flags, it's not just the EU that are pompous.

Where I lived in the US, you could only fly a foreign nation's flag if you flew the US flag above it. We got bollocked by the coppers for flying a St Andrews cross (not a national flag as Scotland is not a sovereign nation), an Irish tricolor, an Aussie flag and a maple leaf. There wasn't any room for a bloody US flag left!!! I knew then it was time to leave...

[Mr T.]

Originally Posted by NotDeadYet

I never understood why the English caved into armed revolt in Ireland but ignored the Scots who largely protested within the law.

Something to do with successive Kings, Queens (esp QE1) and latterly governments not sending the required manpower over to finish the job.

Nowadays (and certainly after the Welsh git, Lloyd George - when he wasn't selling peerages...) prefer a more 'peaceful solution', and then leave them alone to fight their own civil war where they can kill their own potential future leaders (Collins) and elevate corrupt zealots like De Valera...

But such is life...

[Mr T.]

Apropos the above posts on 'what is Great Britain'?

So after their (the EU's) successfully demanding that cucumbers now be straight - and in so doing wiping from the English language a perfectly serviceable simile; that the carrot is now a 'fruit'; the French not balancing their national budgets for 26 years - we now hear (albeit a little late) that 'GB is not an island'.

So not content with using science to defy nature (the cucumber); expedient convenience to alter the class, genus and species of a root-vegetable (the carrot); now they want to fly in the face of geography, topography and geophysics in their claims?!

So what does this make Australia (other than an island continent)? FFS!

Tell me again - just how many ways are there of wasting my tax ££'s?



Britain 'is not an island' claims EU
By Richard Savill
(Filed: 23/01/2003)

European Commission statisticians have decided that Britain is not an island. They say an island can not have fewer than 50 permanent residents, can not be attached to the mainland by a rigid structure, can not be less than a kilometre from a mainland and, crucially in the case of Britain, can not be home to the capital of an EU state.

Their study has raised fears that Anglesey and Skye, which are linked by bridges, and Lundy, which has a population of 18, could lose their island status.

Paul Roberts, Lundy's general manager, said: "It's an absolute nonsense to say we are not an island. "Lundy means 'Puffin Island' in Norse and nothing can take that away from us."

Caroline Jackson, a Tory MEP for the South-West, said: "There is no smoke without fire. If there is anything in this, it may be that the Commission is trying to cut down on expenditure ahead of enlargement, by cutting back on the priorities island communities are sometimes given.

"The suggestion that an island is not an island because it is too small or has a fixed link to the mainland seems to be eccentric."

The European Commission said last night that the Union did not use physical geography as a criterion for regional aid. It said a definition of islands was used in a technical study by statisticians "looking at the economic situation of the islands of Europe".

[Garf]

Originally Posted by Mr T.

Wales = a Principality, not a country

Boo to you Tierney. Can't fault yor argument of course, but boooooo to you anyway

Cymru am Byth