Clegg: PM’s veto will be bulldozed by Brussels forcing Britain to pay billions more into eurozone bailout

By
Jason Groves

Last updated at 10:52 PM on 9th January 2012


Tough talk: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg speaks as Margrethe Vestager, the Danish deputy PM, watches

Tough talk: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg speaks as Margrethe Vestager, the Danish deputy PM, watches

Nick Clegg yesterday claimed that Britain would be signed up to controversial EU reforms despite David Cameron’s historic veto.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who was furious at Mr Cameron’s actions in Brussels last month, said rejecting a new treaty was merely a ‘temporary arrangement’.

He suggested that the proposals vetoed by Mr Cameron would eventually be ‘folded into’ existing treaties – and went on to indicate that Britain would give billions more to the International Monetary Fund to help prevent the euro from collapsing.

The Prime Minister stunned European Union leaders when he blocked a treaty aimed at propping up the euro, after France refused to protect the City of London from a financial transactions tax.

Mr Clegg acknowledged that the issue had the potential to cause the Coalition to ‘fall apart’ – but insisted that such a scenario would be ‘disastrous’ for Britain.

At a London summit of leading liberals from across Europe organised by Mr Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister insisted that Mr Cameron’s stand did not amount to a true veto.

‘“Veto” suggests something was stopped,’ he said. ‘It’s not stopped, it’s carrying on.’

He added that Britain ‘was never being asked to give up anything new’, and insisted that the plan would be pushed through despite Mr Cameron’s bid to block it.

‘We believe it should over time be folded into the existing EU treaties so you don’t get . . . two parallel treaties working separately from each other,’ Mr Clegg said.

‘We all see this as a kind of temporary arrangement rather than one which creates a permanent breach of our European Union.’

Conference: Mr Clegg made his remarks at a meeting of European Liberal leaders in Government at Admiralty House, London

Conference: Mr Clegg made his remarks at a meeting of European Liberal leaders in Government at Admiralty House, London

Prime Minister David Cameron, left, and Mr Clegg ride a train to a cabinet meeting at the 2012 Olympic Games site. Mr Clegg said Mr Cameron's wielding of the veto would not stop the UK's further integration within the European Union

Prime Minister David Cameron, left, and Mr Clegg ride a train to a cabinet meeting at the 2012 Olympic Games site. Mr Clegg said Mr Cameron’s wielding of the veto would not stop the UK’s further integration within the European Union

‘HIRE OUT THE ACROPOLIS’

A banner from the Communist Party of Greece hangs near the Parthenon on Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece

Greece should lease the Acropolis to private firms to raise funds, a senior politician suggested yesterday.

Former health minister Gerasimos Giakoumatos said hiring out ancient landmarks would be preferable to going cap-in-hand to Brussels.

He said it was humiliating to beg for foreign funding, but equally embarrassing ‘when a Chinese tourist in Athens finds the Acropolis closed’.

Strikes have affected museums and sites across the country.

‘Instead of cutting wages and pensions, the state could lease the Acropolis,’ he suggested.

‘It could lease all archaeological sites.’

The call came as German chancellor Angela Merkel warned Greece that a vital second bailout would not go ahead unless the debt-ridden country ‘accelerated talks’ with its creditors.

Mr Clegg also appeared to confirm reports that ministers are preparing to hand billions more to the IMF, following the £10billion approved by the Commons in July. He said Britain would ensure that the IMF was ‘adequately resourced and equipped to deal with major systemic problems in the world economy’. Tory MPs were infuriated by Mr Clegg’s comments.

Peter Bone said: ‘It is typical of the way the eurocrats work that when a treaty or anything they want is vetoed they just ignore it and look for a back-door way of forcing it through.

‘It is absolutely appalling  that the Deputy Prime Minister is going behind the back of the Prime Minister to work with unelected European bureaucrats on circumventing the wishes of the British Government.’

His colleague Douglas Carswell suggested that ministers would struggle to win a vote in Parliament to increase funding for the IMF. ‘Why should hard-working British families pay to bail out fat-cat European bankers?’ he asked.

Mr Clegg’s speech came as the Prime Minister claimed that the EU’s plan to save the ailing single currency was little more than a ‘short-term sticking plaster’.

Mr Cameron warned that eurozone leaders needed to take some ‘pretty decisive steps’ to prevent the collapse of the euro, including urgent action to tackle the lack of competitiveness in many EU economies.

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Please help to send a message to clegg and cameroon.. The only message they will understand is the to lose seats……
Local elections in May, whatever your beliefs, help save this country and vote UKIP…..
Clegg would be finished if the liberals lost every council seat in the uk, do it!!!!!

Ignore Clegg and Milliband they are the political equivalent of Ant and Dec alarmingly similar physically and just as lightweight. Two lightweights giggling and telling stories off centre stage.
Ignore Clegg. he is the UK arm of the quisling army fed into the Continental nations by the, in the main, ex marxists, in unelected power in Brussels.
Like Icaryus the higher they fly in unbridled desrtruction of the democratic the further they will fall.
Bring it on.

Clegg should be sectioned.
75% or our laws are now made in Brussels.
The Office of National Statistics published figures in late November which showed that in 2010 the UK’s gross contribution to the European Union hit £18.46 billion, a more than 5% increase from the previous year. We are now giving the equivalent of £51 million each day to the EU. With receipts at just over £8 billion (down from 2009 due to the Labour government giving up our Rebate) that means our net contribution in 2010 was a staggering £10.3 billion, up from £6.6 billion the year before.
Here’s some food for thought – £10.3billion each year could be spent on:
– 68 new hospitals (at £150 million each)
– 381,481 more nurses (at £27,000 average salary)
– 265,218 more police officers (at £38,836 average salary)
– 412 new schools (at £25million each).
When the next election comes the issue will not be getting rid of the coalition; it will be getting out of the EU and to do that people must vote UKIP.

Mr Clegg acknowledged that the issue had the potential to cause the Coalition to ‘fall apart’ – but insisted that such a scenario would be ‘disastrous’ for Britain. ============== no Nick, the coalition breaking up would NOT be disastrous for Britain but it WOULD be disastrous for the Lib Dems who would find themselves wiped out in the next election. What I find disgusting is the attitude of Brussels to say “even if one member says no, we will still keep on pressing on with our planned course of action”. So much for democracy in the EU if a country says NO and the Eurocrats just ignore it……….

Nick Clegg’s words are pretty close to conspiring to commit treason against the UK.

Sadly this useless,third rate clown is 100% right.Cameron,s veto was simply just another chapter in the EU pantomime. As we have seen with Greece and Italy you go against the EU at your peril. Both these countries have had democratically elected leaders simply replaced, without the people having any say, with EU money yes men. They have got away with it without the people of either Greece or Italy saying a word.
The UK will end up losing even more power and paying even more BILLIONS and Cameron will do as previous PM,s have done and simply do as they are told.
The people of the UK have been lied to for decades and have done nothing to stop it. The Government like the last knows this all too well.
YOU ARE ALL ARE MAD !

Cleggy boy, should enjoy his moment of glory , because come the next election,he will be cast into political oblivion,and the has been.s of political history,and a good job too !!! a traitor to his country. we all remember the so called ” golden boy” during the TV debates prior to the last election— now we can see what an idiot this man is, GET RID OF HIM DAVE OR CALL AN ELECTION, SO THE UK VOTERS CAN GET RID OF HIM !!!!!

Nick Clegg has got the full support of Berlin, whereas Cameron has not. Who do you think will win in the end? Cameron is aware that, if he not yields to Berlins way of thinking, Berlin will replace him with Clegg. As for lack of competitiveness in within the EU. What a load of bull. No need for that. No other European nation will ever come close to Germany’s economic pulling power. Germany is pulling the strings in Europe, and will see to it, that the USE (including the UK) will become an economic powerhouse to rival the BRIC nations, the USA and Japan. Full stop
– The Ralph, Bremen, Germany, 10/1/2012 04:19
The Ralph – a fully paid mouthpiece from the PR group of the Council of Europe…ignore the quisling…

This traitor is the modern equivalent of Lord Haw Haw .
He is not even British – get rid of him before he can do more harm !!

The Cameron veto working well then?
What shambles this government is.

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