Both The Daily Mail and The Grocer are currently claiming that the EU is about to make it illegal for Brits to buy eggs by the half dozen. As long time fully paid up member of the Evil European Conspiracy (EEC) I’d like to go on record as saying that I really, really wish this was true. I know we like to go on and on about how the European project is about trade, and peace and human rights, but we all know that’s not true.
Right from the Treaty of Rome, the only purpose of European cooperation has been to irritate British grocery shoppers. And it’s been working. The only embarrassing thing is that we’ve never actually passed any of the laws that irritate the Brits. But we don’t have to. No matter what legislation comes out of the European Parliament, parts of the media will “interpret” it as an assault on the British way of life. And occasionally they’ll take regulations that may or may not exist, but certainly have nothing to do with the EU, and blame Brussels anyway. And yes, by “interpret” I mean “lie repeatedly.”
The Grocer gets its lies in early, with sentence number one; “It tried to ban pounds and ounces.” Even the first word here is a fudge. It’s clear from the following paragraph that the word “It” refers not to the European Parliament, or the Council of Ministers, or indeed any particular body, but to “Europe” itself. That’s right, they’re blaming a landmass for a law that never existed in the first place.
And it’s downhill from here. The gist of the story is that a bill, 75 pages long, has had 174 pages of amendments added to it. Food industry lobbyists are insisting that among these amendments is one banning the use of item numbers on food packaging. So you couldn’t say “six slices of bacon” or indeed “a dozen eggs,” but rather everything would have to be sold by weight.
There are just two massive holes in the Eurosceptic panic mongering. The first is that all the legislation does is insist that the weight be printed on the packaging. It does not, anywhere, include a law making it illegal to say how many eggs are in box. Nor does it insist on opaque packaging to prevent wily consumers looking for themselves. The second hole, and this is the crucial one, the hole you could troop your colours through without touching the sides, is that the legislation hasn’t been passed, and will have to go through the parliament again for a second reading, at which point it could be amended again. So even if there’s a stupid regulation in it, it isn’t too late.
This despite the cries of “it’s too late” issuing from the eurosceptic press. To be fair to the Mail, their spin is slightly different. They’re portraying this as Cameron’s first face off with Brussels. Nice move. The EU isn’t going to ban a half dozen eggs, so the Mail will be able to present Davey boy as a hero, standing up for the Brits. And there’s no real harm in that.
The real harm will come from the columnists. While news journalists are obliged to at least stay in the vicinity of the truth, columnists aren’t. For years to come we’ll see the likes of Richard Littlejohn claiming that Europe banned eggs.
And it’ll all be the fault of the muslims. You couldn’t make it up.
It is rather unfair to try to tar everyone with the same brush here. The tabloid press especially in the UK has always been fast and loose with the facts.
My principle complaint with “europhiles” is how selective you are with your analysis. For example when the british “europhile” press predicted the end of the city of London if the UK stayed out of the euro i dont remember people like yourself crying foul.
Another key example is in your post where you perpetuate the urban myth about the origins of the european project. It wasnt about anything noble, it was a realisation that individually the major european nations could no longer control trade and as such would have to put their differences aside and club together to be able to demand concessions on trade from small countries.
I am eurosceptic because i believe small nations are a good thing and have preserved peace for the last 60 years. The current trend towards power blocs (EU, NAFTA, Mercosur etc.) in my view jeopardises that. I also believe that the EU is skewed in favour of large businesses over small to medium ones which has led to the “tescoisation” of Europe with associated increases in unemployment.
Come on now, you can’t honestly expect an in depth discussion on the history of the European project in every single article discussing anything at all related to the coverage of European policy. This is a short, hopefully humorous, piece about one story being pushed by one section of the lobbyist industry, no more, no less.
And the reason I didn’t comment on the stories about the end of the City of London back when the euro was formed was simply because I wasn’t commenting on European issues in those days. That said, the City did stay out of the Euro and is now living on state handouts, so I wouldn’t be embarrassed if I had.
OK John i will accept this post was tongue in cheek but i look forward to you reacting with equal vigour next time a bogus claim is peddled by the irish times on a european issue especially if the rumours of a eurozone treaty ceding fiscal control to Brussels later this year prove true.
Now you’re being completely unfair. You can’t expect me to read the Irish Times. That counts as cruel and unusual punishment.
well, while extremist muslims are busy strapping the next lot of bombs on, the non-violent muslims must have something disruptive to do and so they are glad to be discombobulating the grocers of this country.
truth be told, anything that chaps richard littlejohn’s ass gives me joy.
See also http://www.FreeEurope.info – more info for egg-heads.
It is ludricous and wrong to say we want fiscal control of individual nation states, unless you happen to be speaking at a Bilderburg Group meeting. Everything in Europe is voluntary and that’s the way we like it, which is exactly why we need to keep the electorate out of the matter.