Europe as I see it now

EU DISASTER, UK DISASTER

So last night they met, and they had a nice dinner and a few glasses of wine, and they tried to sort out the money mess that they have got the rest of us into. The EU treaty clearly says that debts must be 3%/60% of GDP, and so far everyone of the EU countries signed up to this has broken the treaty agreement, just shrugging their shoulders at it. So much for treaties. Or lack of oversight by the EU commission and/or EU courts.

Can anything change? Well they held the meeting and...

Cameron did NOT use his "veto", he just put a proposal on the table which was not accepted by most other states. We all agree that our debts have to be brought down to manageable levels, and he could have agreed with that. But to insist that the UK finance industry is protected above that of other European countries is unadulterated protectionism and abound to be rejected.

His negotiating tactic also was stupid, he confused this meeting with a meeting of the EU Heads of State under the EU commission aegis, it was not, it was a meeting of countries about their financial crisis - of which UK is a big part!

The first proposal was to have the EU change its treaty to put in the financial policies (debt levels, central financial governance….), this was not agreed by all countries, and not by Cameron without an opt-out clause protecting our finance industry.

So proposal number two was to have a smaller grouping of countries using the euro, and some others who might join the euro some day, and these countries would form a pact to work together.

He did not now have a "veto" at this meeting, just the chance to moan about some special protocols for UK, seeing that the meeting's outcome was not a treaty change for the whole 27 countries of the EU. This idea was now dead in the water.

So, it was not a proposed treaty change for the EU, as other countries did not agree or had to go back and consult. It is just a "private" agreement among those euro countries who signed up, and possibly some others. In this Cameron did not have a "veto" and any request for protection for UK finance industry has no part.

Now he is in dire trouble. He is stupidly supporting the finance industry (against the strong push being made in UK government by the Liberals to support manufacturing, not finance!), he is being pushed by euro-skeptics to demand concessions, but these are not on the table. He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. If he back peddles and agrees now to accept the proposals and get them implemented at EU level, then he may have to call a referendum, if he still walks away saying he does not agree, then he has contributed to a two-speed europe, where the UK is in a small minority, on the outside.