A European No-Brainer

Channel Four News reports that: ''Financial support for Europe's regions will be suspended unless national authorities tighten controls against euro-fraud and mismanagement, the European Commission has warned.'' Europe's regions yes indeed really - that is actually quite true there are 12 European Regions in the UK.

The latest threat from Brussels was announced after after the EU's financial watchdog refused for the 13th year running to give the Union's annual spending a clean bill of health this week. The Commission oversees the handling of the £75 billion-a-year euro budget, but the member states are responsible for distributing the bulk - almost 80% - of EU spending, most of it in grants and subsidies. In fact a whole industry has developed around the misnamed ''European money'' handouts. The UK of course gets back, conditionally, each year about two thirds, of the billions that it pays over to the EU each year.

One wonders where the billions in grant money will go if the EU suspends payments to some or most of 'its regions'. At this point we must spare a thought for all those dependent on EU regional funding in the European Regions of the UK. Many poor souls in such hither too ever expanding organisations such as the Regional Development Authorities would be cast adrift on the job market - many would clearly suffer long term hardship since finding work in the private sector could be too huge a cultural shock for them.

So in summery the EU regions in the EU province of Britain - created primarily (at the time of the Single European Act of 1988 when few knew what was really going on) for the complex funding arrangements of the EU may not in future be funded with the the money that British Taxpayers unwittingly pay over (in ever increasing amounts) to the EU Commission because, say the EU, the EU system of funding for it's dear regions is not fit for purpose. This failing is blamed by the EU officials on the regions in the EU's member states. Oh dear what a sorry (member) state of affairs.

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Well now, to use modern parley it is a 'no-brainer' to conclude that it would be a lot more efficient and indeed beneficial if in the future we in the UK distributed our own funds to our very own own counities (some quite well establshed) and metropolitan and other unitery authorities (they are a tad more modern) on a national bases. Sounds very simple to me. Are we on this blog missing the point ?