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[Loud Whispers]

Inb4 UK-France war

Oh not again.

So classic, we ought to have a remake every 4-4 years

From skimming through a few articles I gather that the permits were not granted as part of the longer fishing rights conflict between France and the UK following Brexit. So presumably the Jersey government was pressured/co-opted into the UK's post-brexit policies, despite not being part of the EU to begin with? The articles aren't very clear on the details of the "start" of the conflict as they focus on the escalation. I guess armed patrol vessels are more interesting to write about than how the permits were (not) granted currently and previously, and by whom.

Jersey's a crown dependency, which means they do their own thing in all respects besides money (they use the Jersey pound, which is just the GB Pound with their own sign on it. Similar to how Eurozone nations put their own heads and tails on their eurocoins) and foreign policy (Jersey is aligned with UK foreign policy). Jersey is one of the channel islands that is Francomalvinasing every year or so, in that the French don't like the fact that Jersey is close to the French coast. Makes managing fishing disputes a regular pain in the arse.

SCALLOP WARS

Not the first - not the last. The French are claiming this time that they're allowed to ignore UK law because they weren't notified of the technical details of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation agreement beforehand. Which is bizarre to say the least; if the EU decides not to inform the French that's on them.

[MorleyDev]

Thought the claim was that Jersey added extra requirements that the French argue weren't in the agreement, and those extra requirements deprived some of their fishing boats the right to fish which they claim they should have had under the agreements text? So it's not that the EU didn't notify the French, it's that the UK/Jersey didn't notify the EU to notify the French.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57011376

The boats were protesting against new fishing rules - introduced last week by the Jersey government under the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) - which require French boats to show they have a history of fishing in Jersey's waters. But it has been claimed additional requirements were added without notice.

French authorities say "new technical measures" had not been communicated to the EU, rendering them "null and void".

[da_nang]

The Finnish parliament will be voting on the EU Corona fund today. A 2/3's majority is required for it to pass. The National Coalition Party has retracted its party whip; the party members are free to vote however they see fit.

Here's hoping the fund gets voted down. I don't want my country to be become a guarantor for other countries, nor do I want to expand the powers of the EU.

[TD1]

I applaud anti-federalism on general principle.

[da_nang]

Aaand they're rescheduling the vote. Should now be on Friday or later next week.

Apparently they held the debate until four in the morning and still weren't finished.

[Loud Whispers]

The Finnish parliament will be voting on the EU Corona fund today. A 2/3's majority is required for it to pass. The National Coalition Party has retracted its party whip; the party members are free to vote however they see fit.

Here's hoping the fund gets voted down. I don't want my country to be become a guarantor for other countries, nor do I want to expand the powers of the EU.

What's the EU corona fund? From the name I imagine it's a Corona damage repair fund for EU countries but what are the specifics exactly

[da_nang]

It's the EU Corona recovery fund + long-term budget. The important detail is the new Own Resources, that will allow "the European Commission - on behalf of the European Union – [to] borrow on the markets at more favourable rates than many Member States and redistribute the amounts." Effectively EU bonds, backed by the union and new tax powers. They call it "temporary", but nothing is more permanent than "temporary".

What will inevitably happen when one of the member countries fail to pay their dues is that the other member countries will pick up the slack in either raised taxes or raised member fees (which in turn raises taxes). Member countries will effectively become guarantors and have less control over their own fiscal policies and treasuries.

What this is is more federalization and a fiscal transfer system. They're trying to turn the EU into a USE, effectively ending the independence of my country.

And mind you, our PM had the infinite wisdom of "negotiating" this deal without consulting with the parliament.

[Loud Whispers]

Classic way to make euroscepticism; gov ministers giving away sovereignty without asking their own electorate

[da_nang]

So after a few days of filibustering and procedural shenanigans, we're finally having a vote on Tuesday.

[Duuvian]

I don't know the details, but wouldn't member states be more likely to default if they had to issue their own bonds rather than the EU? I assume the reasoning is they can't borrow at as favorable interest rates as the EU as a whole. Then you'd have to either bail them out then or leave them to face the economic consequences, which correct me if I'm wrong, led last time to a sudden increase in far right nationalist parties' success in Europe the last time it happened? Golden Dawn and all that austerity?

[da_nang]

I'd rather default than add another shackle.

[Duuvian]

I apologize for not understanding; does your country achieve better interest rates than the EU? Will it receive less than it puts in or something? Are you against higher spending in general or specifically on this as a principle? IIRC Europe faced decisions the last recession and chose austerity, and in addition to the gains made by some political parties I mentioned above which seemed to be worrisome at the time to the Euro public, also took longer to climb out of the recession, though it has been many years and my memory likely deceives me in ways due to that as well as my general ignorances of the details of this proposal and European politics.

[da_nang]

This is about principle. I do not support federalization into some kind of USE, towards which this fund would be another brick in the foundation.

[Loud Whispers]

I apologize for not understanding; does your country achieve better interest rates than the EU? Will it receive less than it puts in or something? Are you against higher spending in general or specifically on this as a principle? IIRC Europe faced decisions the last recession and chose austerity, and in addition to the gains made by some political parties I mentioned above which seemed to be worrisome at the time to the Euro public, also took longer to climb out of the recession, though it has been many years and my memory likely deceives me in ways due to that as well as my general ignorances of the details of this proposal and European politics.

As with all things, people are worried that EU money comes with strings attached; for example majority of Italians would go apeshit at the EU if forced to accept austerity measures in exchange for bailout money

[ChairmanPoo]

Austerity didn´t work too well the first time around. And yeah, there´s almost certainly going to be a round two.

Likely no real alternatives, the way things are, either. It´s either the shitty decaf bailout with strings that nobody will like for one reason or another, or a domino effect with all the major economies crashing.

Back home the way austerity mark II is shaping up is a massive tax ramp-up. VAT tax is coming up, public roads will have tariffs, self-employment quotas are going up....  they probably won´t cut down healthcare workers wages like they did the first time around because they´re beginning to struggle to get them as it is (and the way things are going I´d not be surprised if in 10-20 years they were in the same dire straits as the UK and Ireland as far as HCWs are concerned), but they´re are not increasing them a lot either.


I´m very glad I have a perm post because I foresee that the next five years are going to be pretty terrible for the worldwide economy.