mr president yesterday i wondered whether i had fallen through a kink in the space-time continuum and ended up in the nineteen seventies
today i am wondering whether it is the seventeen seventies
let me quote an observation that thomas jefferson made about remote government
he said that at such distance and from under the eye of their constituents governors must of necessity tend to corruption plunder and waste
what a perfect description of what happens in the eu budget with its unapproved accounts the misallocation of resources and these constantly rising figures despite the attempts of the twenty-seven member states to rein in their spending
it is what happens when you have no link between taxation representation and expenditure when the eu expects bouquets for spending money but not brickbats for raising it
the only way in which we will be able to bring these figures back in line with public opinion is when we restore budgetary responsibility to national parliaments and to national parliamentarians who have to justify themselves to their constituents who are also their taxpayers
