If EU were a company its chiefs and CEOs would be in jail - MEP

Source: Russia Today

With an EU budget that stands at 147 billion euros, a sum that looks set to increase, European MP Paul Nuttall told RT that even the EU doesn’t know where such a "crazy" sum of money is spent.

With EU members set to discuss the inflation-busting rise of 5% to the 2014-2020 budget, suggested by the European Commission, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has rebuked David Cameron’s plan to try and repatriate powers to the UK. He described it as “false promise wrapped in union jack” which could trigger an “outright crisis” and result in the UK leaving the union.

Clegg also argued on Thursday that achieving a cut in the seven-year EU budget to be discussed in three weeks is “completely unrealistic” and the only realistic variant is the pushing for a real-terms freeze.

Cameron also wants to push for a freeze, but that freeze is in fact an increase, argues Paul Nuttall, a Member of the European Parliament from the UK Independence Party, due to the inflation.

RT:Is Nick Clegg right? Is the UK moving away from Europe?

Paul Nuttall: The UK is certainly moving away …Well, the people are moving away from Europe, shall we say. If we look at recent opinion polls 80 per cent of people want the referendum, so around 60 per cent of people actually want to leave the European Union altogether. So the people are certainly moving away. The political class that’s another debate, I mean, I think what Nick Clegg said is quite right actually. We can’t repatriate powers unless we have an iron fist behind us. And the iron fist has to be a referendum on our membership of the EU and then we can invoke something called Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which means that we can then start negotiation about we can repatriate back to this country.

RT:How welcome is David Cameron going to be in Brussels later this month – what do you expect him to say?

PN: I think David Cameron has already shown his hands. I mean if I was going out there wanting a bargain what I would say that I want a clear reduction – a cut – in the EU budget. What he is saying is that he wants a freeze, which is in fact really a rise what would go in inflation. And I think he has shown his hands and what will happen is that he will talk hard and at the end he will come back and we will lose again and the British people will only pay more and more money to Brussels.

RT:As a Euro MP, how much money does the EU really need to go about its business?

PN: The budget last year was 129 billion pounds [sic], which is a crazy amount of money. Every single year the budget goes up and member states, including Greece and Portugal and Irelands that are in serious trouble will be asked to put their hands in pockets and give more to Brussels. It is wrong.

RT:Large parts of the EU budget have been failing audits for years now. Where does all the money go?

PN: That’s a good question. I don’t know. It seems that the European Union itself doesn’t know. Look, if the European Union was a company then its directors and chief executives would all be in jail. But it is not. It is corrupt and it is another reason why British people want that referendum and want to leave.

RT:Weaker eurozone states are struggling to stay afloat – Spain's verging on a bailout. But the UK's not in the currency union. However it's still paying into the troubled region's coffers. How much is the currency bloc relying on the wider EU states?

PN: The currency block certainly relies presumably on Britain, actually, out of the states which aren’t in the currency [block]. And we pay somewhere 15 million pounds a day just to be members of this club and this doesn’t take into account the mega amounts of money – tens of billions it costs us to comply with EU directives and regulations. It burdens on the British people. It is something we are not happy about. We want a referendum because let’s not forget the last time we voted on our membership this organization was in 1975. We deserve a referendum and we want a say on this issue.

US, Germany slam Khodorkovsky verdict

Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company, is accused of stealing billions of dollars worth of oil from their oil company between 1998 and 2003

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157508.html

The US and Germany have criticized Moscow over a second guilty verdict against the jailed Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were charged with embezzlement and laundering of stolen property at a Moscow district court on Monday.

The United States was quick to express its "deep concern" about the verdict.

"The apparent selective application of the law to these individuals undermines Russia's reputation as a country committed to deepening the rule of law," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "very worried" by the "extremely dubious" trial.

"The trial … is a step backward on the road toward modernization of the country," Westerwelle said in a statement.

So far, the European Union has refrained from denouncing the verdict.

Political commentator, Peter Lavelle, told Press TV that Khodorkovsky is "a criminal at a vast scale" and compared the tycoon to US financier Bernard Maydoff, who was sentenced to a 150 years in prison for large-scale fraud.

Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company, and his business partner Lebedev are accused of stealing over 23 billion dollars worth of oil from their oil company between 1998 and 2003.

Both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev maintained their innocence and claimed the charges against them were politically motivated.

The trial, which began in March 2009, was the second for the two men. During a 2005 hearing, both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to eight years behind bars for tax evasion.

The new verdict is likely to keep Khodorkovsky and Lebedev in prison for several more years, but the announcement of the final verdict may take some days.

As the judge inside the court delivered the guilty verdict, hundreds of supporters outside the court building were chanting "freedom" and "shame."

Among those who gathered were public figures, opposition and rights activists.

They believe that the Kremlin wants Khodorkovsky behind bars for as long as possible because he financed the opposition when Vladimir Putin was the country's president.

Days ahead of the verdict, Putin -- who is now Russia's prime minister -- referred to the former oil tycoon as "a thief" who "belongs in prison."

Since the Russian premier has hinted that he may return to presidency in 2012, observers believe Khodorkovsky is likely to stay behind bars until then.

However, many in Russia have no sympathy for the former billionaire.