ALL ONE BIG
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
s HAPPY FAMILY when William Wordsworth wrote about "discordant elements" that "cling together in one society" he'd just had a nightmare about a European Union. What other group of nation states makes such a fuss about "togetherness"—and then spends so much time defending their own personal interests? This week CM's news pages cam/ a perfect example of European "union". Last week Britain vetoed an Irish bid to get a 35% rebate for Euro-vignettes on the grounds that Ireland is on the "outer rim" of the EU and therefore entitled to preferential treatment. Follow that argument and you'll end up paying Finnish hauliers to take them.
According to British Transport Minister Viscount Goschen, Aberdeen is further away from the EU's economic centre than Galway. Finally! We have a new question for Trivial Pursuit: "Which is closer to the economic centre of the EU? Is it A) Galway; B) Aberdeen; C) Chipping Sodbury... Now Luxembourg (it's that small country next to er...next to er...) says if rebates were to be granted to all those operators on the EU's outer limits then the only operators paying the full whack would be .„Luxembourgers. Of course the real issue is not who lives the furthest from the economic centre of Europe (wherever that may be) but what can be done to bring down hauliers' costs throughout the EU, including the price of Euro-vignettes. The French and the Dutch have the right idea: they've asked the EU for permission to introduce cheaper purple coloured diesel specifically for hauliers. Don't tell that to our old friend Joe Soap haulier— thanks to the activities of various Chancellors of the Exchequer over the past 18 years Joe's ended up paying more diesel duty than any of his counterparts in the EU. He can't help wondering if, instead of blocking other countries' attempts to win concessions for their hauliers, HM Government wouldn't be better occupied trying to win one or two for him.