US-EU online gambling haggle extended

Today's $100bn

is December's $110bn, given the exchange rates, I reckon. So the sooner they cough up, the less it'll cost 'em...

To the anonymouse one

Odd, though, that the US doesn't let "but they do it too" to work with places they don't like. Like, oh, Iran. France make nukes too!

Pruning time please...

I'd love the pruning to begin, can you begin by pruning off that annoying thorn called the UK please ?

I'm not completely certain our end position would be beneficial but considering the similarities to the Swiss position (in terms of ecomomies based on world Banking) we could be sitting quite nicely thanks very much.

Yes, thats "World" Investment Banking you know, it means it comes from other places than Europe you know....

We wouldn't be dumping our current £6 billion+ a year into the CAP either, which could go quite far. After 2007 we are dumping in 20% more thanks to giving up part of the rebate.

So the wise old EU has 126 billion budget and spends just under half propping up farming by paying for fields to be left empty instead of doing something sensible like growing biofuels which could be sold explicitly for Fuel and not allowed onto the open marker as a food product.

With the UK being a major net contributor to the EU please remind me how this benefits the UK? Oh, of course, so we still have the chance to sign up to the Schengen treaty for some really really really porous borders....

So Mr Pruner, how's about looking at the much bigger picture and think of scrapping the billions and billions wasted in the CAP instead of squabbling over a few quid lost over gambling.

More pruning comments...

OK Mr Anglophobe, lets disect your arguments :

"Switzerland is not a good pruning candidate...."

The UK has always had free movement of employee's, are much further integrated into Europe and pay fully (excepting the CAP rebate) into the coffers which is much more than can be said for Switzerland.

Please do educate me how you prune a country that is not a member and in 2001 voted not to join ? Am I confused or you stupid ?

"France is not exactly prunable"

Did you miss the last 35 years of news or did not notice that France is instrumental in EU policy and descisions and that recently their public showed a large deegree of Euro-skeptiscism. Do educate me how you ever eexpect anyone in Europe to agree to pruning france.

They are as obstinate and self serving as any other country could stand accused of in the EU, refusing to bend when it suits them and demanding others bend over when they want something different.

"Europe will be fine, the UK can go join NAFTA or whatever"

Ok, so your not only showing the real reasons you hate the UK, because of our Politicians tendency to be the lapdog of the US but I don't like that either. I don't like watching our Politicians bending to Mr Bushes every whim.

Biggest thing to note here is you completley missed the original intention of the EU, which was for free trade between European countries. You seem to want walls between the UK and Europe, maybe so you can self serve your own dreams and like it or not we're your neighbours. We're part of Europe and firmly attached to the Eurasian plate.

"Last paragraph/sentence"

I am very curious on your closing paragraph, I'd love to see how prescence of the UK spreads "Anti-freedom" thinking, how "penalties without judicial process" have come from the UK and how "undermining of EU policy" is soley the UK's fault, are the UK the only country to go against the will of the EU ? According to you the UK has created "Internal European barriers"

Hmmmm, I think not.

Please go and do a bit of research of the meaning of the word "Euro-realist" and look at the original intention of the EU and free trade agreements between members. Thats very different from the idea of a super state making federal law for a European Federation.

You seem to have an anti-American slant and would see us chopped from the Eurasian plate and sent over the Atlantic, leaving you living in splendid isolation in Glorious Europe, all living together as one without that nasty old neighbour living on the other side of the river (The Channel)

You might do well to watch the news and note that there are other dissenters in Europe who don't want the European Court deciding national law, international policy, tax's, border control and so forth. Look at the last referendum and the current list of dissenters.

Oh and by the way, unless you didn't notice the whole of the EU is a net food importer and the prices we pay are estimated as 40% higher than world market prices dictate because of import tarrifs and the CAP.

Maybe one reason for lack of food production in the UK can be attributed to the population explosion since the 50's from migration so tell me again about the benefits of the Schengen treaty please ?

Time to stop my mega-rant but before you go please inform me of the benefit of having to import European Wheat/beef/vegetable oil's at 140% of the price we could buy from Africa, which co-incedentally could help lift them out of poverty ?