TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP
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urophile, or Eurosceptic? That's the choice facing Conservative MPs as they prepare to choose a new leader. Meanwhile, as the electorate is treated to the nauseating spectacle of cabinet ministers pledging their "unqualified" support to the . Prime Minister, perhaps both candidates ought to look at what's been happening to British international hauliers across the Channel before they open their mouths on Europe. Last week British hauliers witnessed the European Union in action at first hand and it's not a pretty sight. It's probably no coincidence that the latest outrages all involve the French. Last week France raised its VAT base rate to 20.6%—one of the highest in Europe. That means higher Fuel bills for TIR operators taking on diesel in La Belle France. As one international haulier told CM: 'We'll certainly have to analyse how much fuel we're buying in France." Of course you could avoid that increase by simply using a belly or catwalk tank, right? "Non!" say French customs officers. The long-running belly-tank dispute has already cost many UK-based international-hauliers thousands of pounds in fines and delays.
And which EU law justifies the French action? Look as hard as you like but you won't find one because France's unilateral ban has no basis in EU law. A fact which does not seem to bother the French one iota. The official line from the French authorities is that belly and catwalk tanks are dangerous. But they'll not complain IF foreign operators transiting the country have to fill up with expensive French fuel. Instead of letting Customs and Excise and the SMMT fight its' battles it's high time for HM Government to apply to the European Court to stop the French acting outside EU law and impeding the free passage of vehicles and trade through the Union, As if all that wasn't enough, last Thursday French farmers attacked a UK truck carrying a load of beef, burning its cargo while the French police fulfiled their usual role in such cases—as spectators. So much for European spirit. No doubt there are good reasons for being in the EU. But before we can even begin to talk about a Federal Europe and a single currency, the idiosyncratic activities of certain EU members must be kerbed. As the owner of the truck which was attacked by French farmers rightly says: "The French just do what they like, regardless of European law and nobody has the will, or the guts to stop them." So, Mr Major and Mr Redwood, have you?