Maybe There Won't Always Be An England

From the Daily Mail (U.K.):

Brussels has fined Britain more than £150million [$225 million] for failing to display the EU flag on a string of projects part-funded by Europe.

Several schemes were also penalised for failing to use the flag on their letterheads.

As Harry Phibbs says in the same paper:

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, rapidly emerging as one of the most effective cabinet ministers, has called for the "needless bureaucracy" of European Regional Development Fund to be lifted.

Certainly the rule book show just how seriously the EU takes itself. "The image of the EU flag should only be increased or reduced in size proportionally," it says. "It should never be squeezed or stretched. The correct proportions are 1.5 horizontal to 1 vertical."

There is a requirement that "On billboards and commemorative plaques, the acknowledgment of European Union funding MUST constitute a minimum of 25 per cent of the total area." There is also a warning that "The European Union logo works best on a white background. However, if it appears on a non-white ground then a white border should be placed around it."

And there are even special sections on colour schemes and logo orientation. To avoid the fine you must ensure that the EU flag is on writing paper, compliments slips and business cards. On and on it goes. Page after page of requirements from the EU's Logo Police.

Imagine if the EU showed this level of concern for combating fraud. It seems they are less pernickety about their own accounts than they are about flag waving. It can't get its auditors to sign off its accounts because its finances are so dodgy.

The Bruges Group think tank estimate that the real cost of EU membership is £56billion a year -- over £100,000 a minute. This is calculated by including the cost of all the regulations -- of which, I suppose, flag waving compliance is only a modest example.

Why are lefties only patriotic about do-little organizations like the U.N. and E.U.?

(via Wolf Howling)